128:, abandoned railroad tracks that once divided the downtown core are being transformed into the unifying Katy Trail, a linear, 3.5-mile long (5.6 km) landscaped trail system that runs through the most densely-developed section of the city. Construction on the trail began in the spring of 2000. As of 2022, several features have already been completed, including the 12-foot wide (3.7 m) primary trail, two of four planned entrance plazas, and four of the six planned pedestrian bridges. Construction was completed in 2007 on the Thomsen Overlook plaza, overlooking Reverchon Park. An 8-foot wide (2.4 m) secondary jogging trail has 1 mile (1.6 km) left of construction, which will be completed once more funding is secured. The work is being carried out by The Friends of Katy Trail under a master plan created by The SWA Group office in Dallas.
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Katy Trail is aspiring to have a 3.5-mile-long (5.6 km), 12-foot-wide (3.7 m) concrete path for bicyclists and in-line skaters, an adjacent 3.1-mile-long (5.0 km), 8-foot-wide (2.4 m) soft-surface track for pedestrians, four major entrance plazas, ADA-compliant entrances, benches,
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Originally, the Dallas Park & Recreation
Department planned a basic concrete pathway system along the railroad right of way. The Friends of the Katy Trail have greatly expanded that vision by hiring The SWA Group, an international landscape architecture, planning, and urban design firm, to create
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This adaptive re-use of unused railroad tracks unifies several important Dallas districts and provides a major recreational amenity for the more than 300,000 people who live and work within a mile of the trail (The
Southernmost Trail-head is 0.5 miles (800 m) from downtown Dallas at the American
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Since
Friends of the Katy Trail was formed in 1997, this trail has become a civic point of pride in Dallas. The trail, though a public park, is privately maintained. Each year, Friends of the Katy Trail runs an Annual Support Campaign to solicit donations for the trail. In 2007, the capital campaign
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For years, the abandoned railroad tracks have been left in a state of disrepair, but the master plan includes strategies to transform negative public perceptions of the Katy Trail through landscaping, lighting, and in particular, the design of nine public spaces at important crossings and
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called Katy Trail "one of our city’s favorite outdoor spaces". Katy Trail has become such a popular jogging location that some Dallas citizens quip, "The trains don’t run here anymore...Dallas does."
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By the early 1990s, Dallas residents, businesspeople, and city and county officials proposed restoring the greenbelt along the railroad route and creating an urban park as part of the national
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The Katy Trail is also directly responsible for an upsurge in property values and retail-restaurant sales in adjacent neighborhoods and developments. On April 21, 2006,
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Airlines Center). This new, partly completed linear greenway is already popular among pedestrians and nature-lovers, both Dallas residents and visitors.
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a $ 23 million master plan for two trails and an urban park connecting the West End district to
Mockingbird Station.
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The Katy Trail is intended to provide an effective way of connecting the various Dallas city parks running from
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landscaping, and drinking fountains for all users, including pets. It will be connected to the
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The planting plan is dominated by native Texas trees and plants, including
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Looking down at Harry Hines
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Looking down at Cedar
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The trail consists of a 12-foot-wide (3.7 m) concrete path for
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program, established in 1986 and based in
Washington, D.C.
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In the early 1980s, The Katy was initially considered for
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lines to the
Northeast, but the current route beneath
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intersections. For night-time safety without adding
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112:Learn how and when to remove this message
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281:in Dallas
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24:Knox Park
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335:"Home"
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65:About
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