In a series of blog posts throughout the year, we will highlight the progress made along each of Houston’s Bayou Greenways as part of the Houston Parks Board’s Kinder Foundation-supported Bayou Greenways 2020 project. This is the third in the series.

In May, Houston Parks Board celebrated several new Bayou Greenways 2020 trail completions, getting Houstonians one literal step closer to a connected hike-and-bike network along Houston’s major waterways. Among the recently-finished segments is a new half-mile trail of Hunting Bayou Greenway connecting Falls Street to Cavalcade (Mickey Leland Memorial Park).

To date, more than one-and-a-half miles of Hunting Bayou Greenway have been completed. Portions of the greenway, which is located along Hunting Bayou in northeast Houston, will touch Hutcheson Park, Herman Brown Park, and Mickey Leland Memorial Park

Last month’s completion includes the replacement of an asphalt trail with a new 10-foot wide multi-use concrete trail north along West Hunting Street. Amenities including pocket parks, landscaping, benches, signage, trash and recycling receptacles, and native landscaping and tree plantings were added, as was a new bike/pedestrian bridge with overlook plazas connecting to the existing Hunting Bayou Greenway. Gateways along this new segment include the Pine Tree Trailhead at Mickey Leland Park and the Oak Hill Pocket Park near the new bridge.

In July 2018, Houston Parks Board and its partners Houston Parks and Recreation Department, Texas Department of Transportation, Harris County Precinct One, and Harris County Flood Control District celebrated the opening of the aforementioned 1-mile segment of Hunting Bayou Greenway from Falls Street to Pickfair Street. That portion of greenway features a pocket park at the intersection of Pardee and Leffingwell, which serves as a gateway to the Kashmere Gardens neighborhood. Design work is under way to extend this trail from Pickfair Street under I-610 to Kelly Street, which will provide a safe connection to Harris Health’s Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital.

Further downstream, design is now complete on a new segment of Hunting Bayou Greenway which will connect Hunting Bayou Greenway to Greens Bayou Greenway. One section of the greenway will connect from Maxey Road into Herman Brown Park (the eastern portion), and the other will connect from Manitou Drive into Herman Brown Park (the western portion). As with all greenways, the Parks Board is working with the Kinder Foundation to acquire green space along Hunting Bayou wherever possible.

To date, $2.6 million of the Kinder Foundation’s $50 million catalyst grant has been spent on Hunting Bayou Greenway.

You may read about progress along the other greenways on our blog or on the Houston Parks Board’s website.