Campión Trails Completed in Valley Ranch

The city has completed construction on the $2.7 million Campión Trails extension into Sam Houston Trail Park, adjacent to Valley Ranch along the Elm Fork of the Trinity River.

The 12-foot-wide concrete primary trail for the northern section of Campión Trails previously stopped in T.W. Richardson Grove, north of Interstate Highway 635 and east of Valley View Lane. Dallas County Open Space Program provided a $235,000 grant for part of the primary trail construction.

Sam Houston Trail Park and the Campión Trails extension is the latest phase of the 22-mile greenbelt trail along the Elm and West Forks of the Trinity River. Phase I improvements include approximately a half-mile of 12-foot-wide concrete primary trail running beneath the Valley View Lane bridge and the President George Bush Turnpike, northward connecting into the 192-acre Sam Houston Trail Park. The concrete trail loops around a 30-acre meadow on the south end of the park and crosses the flood control levee to provide the first pedestrian link into Valley Ranch.

Additional improvements include a park access road, 200 parking spaces, security lighting, drinking fountains, an open meadow, a low-water crossing for maintenance vehicles and landscaping. A dedication ceremony for the extension is planned for the spring.

Sam Houston Trail Park will include a second phase that will be funded from the park bond funds approved by residents in 2006. Park amenities for Phase II will include group picnic facilities, playground equipment, additional 1½ miles of primary trail, a second levee crossing, secondary trails along the river, practice soccer fields, a basketball and sand volleyball court, drinking fountains, landscaping, benches and security lights.

Posted Dec. 30