Campión Trails Extension to Provide Additional Access to Valley Ranch  View video

By the end of November, Valley Ranch residents will no longer have to drive their vehicles to use Campión Trails. The Parks and Recreation Department will soon complete construction on the $2.4 million trail extension. 

The 12-foot-wide concrete primary trail for Campión Trails will extend from its current end in T.W. Richardson Grove into Sam Houston Trail Park, and ultimately across the levee into Valley Ranch. The project provides foot and bike access into Sam Houston Trail Park, and connects the 5.5 miles of primary trail available in the northern section of Campión Trails.

Sam Houston Trail Park consists of 192 acres adjacent to Valley Ranch along the Trinity River. Work includes concrete primary trail, secondary loop trail, a new park entry road, two new parking lots, security lighting and landscaping.

Master plans for Sam Houston Trail Park and the Campión Trails extension will be implemented in two phases. Phase I improvements will be complete in November. Approximately a half-mile of 12-foot wide concrete primary trail will run under the Valley View Lane bridge and State Highway 161. The trail will extend northward, connecting to Sam Houston Trail Park and crossing the levee to provide a pedestrian link into Valley Ranch. More than 30,000 residents who live in Valley Ranch will benefit from this access. 

Additional improvements include a park access road, 200 parking spaces, security lighting, water service and a low-water crossing for maintenance vehicles. Landscaping for the park will be installed this fall, and will include native trees and grasses to enhance the natural habitat along the river corridor.

Phase II work will be funded by $4 million in park bonds approved by voters in the 2006 bond election. Phase II projects include several group picnic facilities, additional parking, playground equipment, 1.5 miles of primary trail with a large pedestrian bridge, a second levee crossing, secondary trails along the river, practice soccer fields, a basketball court, sand volleyball court, drinking fountains, landscaping, benches and security lighting. Phase II construction is expected to begin in 2012.

For more information, call the Parks and Recreation Department at (972) 721-2501.

Posted Sept. 26