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Parks director: Garland trails master plan about 40% complete; new projects depend on funding and railroad agreements
Summary
Parks staff reported progress on the 2021 Trails Master Plan, saying about 15.8 miles of new off-street trails are complete (roughly 40% of proposed additions) and projects under construction or in design continue to move forward; two projects are paused pending Spring Creek Preserve assessments and a key railroad agreement affects Duck Creek Segment 3.
Dolly Williams, the city's Managing Director of Parks and Recreation, told the council the Trails Master Plan — adopted in 2021 after the 2019 bond program — aims to create a connected, safe and sustainable active-transportation network.
“Council had requested an update on the progress of our trails master plan,” Williams said, summarizing the plan’s goals of connectivity, safety and sustainability and noting staff have completed about 15.8 miles of the off-street trails proposed in the plan. Parks planning administrator Mark Elander said that figure represents slightly more than 40% of the off-street mileage the master plan proposed and that roughly 43% of the full system is either complete or underway when on-street segments are included.
Elander walked council through completed segments, projects under construction and a pipeline of design-stage segments. He said two projects—the Garland Avenue Underpass and the Naaman Forest Connection Trail—are temporarily paused to coordinate remediation and sewer-assessment work in the Spring Creek Preserve area. For the Duck Creek Segment 3, Elander told the council design packages are about 75% complete but the city is still seeking a signed agreement with the CPKC railroad to finalize the chosen alignment; if the railroad terms are resolved, the segment could be put out to bid in the fall.
Council members asked about prioritization among on-street and off-street connections, where funding has been identified, and how projects will be sequenced. Staff said on-street priorities with identified CIP funding will be bid as funding allows and that some choke points (bridges, floodplain constraints) will require additional coordination and funding. Councilmembers requested the adopted plan and crash-data chapters be recirculated to the council and asked staff to continue reporting progress as projects move toward procurement and construction.
