ATTENTION: MONDAY IS A BIG DAY FOR RICHARDSON CYCLISTS!
There are two big bike events happening on Monday, June 2. Please try to attend either one, or both.
The first is the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony of the new Central Trail extension in Richardson. It’s a much needed extension of an existing trail, providing some great connections between our local DART rail train stations and neighborhoods. The City of Richardson and Dallas County are hosting a ribbon cutting ceremony to officially open the trail on June 2.
Here are the details:
Date: Monday, June 2. 2014
Time: 4:00 p.m.
Location: Spring Valley DART Station/Central Trail – Spring Valley Road at Lingco Drive
The next is the Bike Friendly Richardson, Bike Parking Initiative presentation to the Richardson City Council, that evening.
We were asked by City Council member, Scott Dunn, to present information about creating a functional and comprehensive bike parking plan that would benefit, not only cyclists, but local business owners as well as the city. Our new Bike Parking Initiative’s lead, Mark Adams, will present a brief introduction to a bigger plan that will, hopefully, pave the way to a system of well designed and well placed bike racks that will encourage more cycling around town.
Date: Monday, June 2. 2014
Time: 6:00 p.m. – During the City Council Work Session
Location: Richardson City Hall – 411 W Arapaho Rd, Richardson, TX 75083
WE NEED TO SHOW OUR SUPPORT FOR THESE EVENTS! Let’s try to get as many cyclists as possible to the ceremony and council meeting, and show our appreciation and support.
Central Trail Nearing Completion
According to last week’s city newsletter “Week In Review”, the Central Trail extension is nearing completion:
The expansion of the Central Trail is about 90 percent complete, and the City plans to celebrate its grand opening with a ribbon cutting June 2. The 1.9-mile southern expansion connects the 10-foot wide multiuse trail from the Arapaho Road DART Station to Richardson’s southern city limit. A future connection in the City of Dallas is expected to eventually tie it into the White Rock Creek Trail. The $4.5 million project is funded through Dallas County, $1.4 million from the City of Richardson’s 2010 Bond Program and Regional Tollway Revenue funds.
The City is also working to expand the Central Trail half a mile to the north to Richardson’s northern city limit. The existing trail ends at Renner Road, but the expansion will tie in to the CityLine development and eventually connect to the Plano trail system. The $1.8 million northern expansion is funded through Regional Tollway Revenue and the City’s Tax Increment Finance Zone #2. It is expected to be complete in the summer of 2015 and will allow the trail to run from city limit to city limit.
Watch a City Council work session presentation about progress on the Central Trail at bit.ly/1lDwyxu.
We can’t wait to ride this. It’ll be fantastic once cyclists are able to ride from the north end of town, eventually to the White Rock Creek Trail and into Dallas.
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More Progress On Central Trail South
This section is heading south to Spring Valley Station.
We’ve been following the progress on the Central Trail South (what we are calling the DART Trail section between Arapaho Road and 635 LBJ) and we are seeing some great progress. The last time we checked, the biggest barrier – which was building the trail over some creeks and drainage systems (between Belt Line Road and Spring Valley Road) – was requiring some major, time consuming construction.
From our latest inspection over the past weekend, we discovered that most of that construction is complete. All that remains, of the full trail extension, are just a few small pockets of missing trail, as well as the final, finishing touches. We’re hoping these are finished soon.
This section is covering the new drainage systems.
We’ve also discovered a new addition to the Central Trail south – trail construction NORTH of Arapaho. You may remember us pointing out the ‘gap’ in the original plans for the trail extension, back in 2010. We were concerned that the connection to the south extension was nothing more than a narrow sidewalk. We are glad that this issue was addressed and they are now continuing the wider trail from Arapaho Road, all the way to Arapaho Station. We would love to see that gap eventually connect to the north part of the Central Trail.
This is the new section north of Arapaho Road.
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New Pics Of The Central Trail Construction – Buckingham To Spring Valley
The Central Trail, southern extension – from Buckingham to Arapaho – is coming along nicely. The Central Trail goes north and south along the DART rail line which runs through Richardson. It will eventually connect Richardson, Plano and other suburban communities to the various parts of Dallas.
We’ve already posted pics of the ‘northern’ end of this extension that runs from Arapaho to Belt Line. Now, we’re seeing some great progress on the southern end, between Buckingham and Spring Valley. The trail isn’t officially open, so don’t head that way yet.
We’re not there yet. Even when complete, there is still a huge gap between Buckingham and the White Rock Creek Trail. Although more trail is needed to complete the connection, this Central Trail extension takes bicycle trail commuters one step closer. This is something DFW cyclists can get excited about. Here are some pics and observations.
This is the southern most end at Buckingham (facing north):
Here is the Spring Valley End (facing south):
Here is the Spring Valley End (image, not bike, facing north):
Here is the path along Spring Valley, heading to the signal crossing at Business Parkway. When we saw the plans for this, it originally seemed to be pretty narrow. It actually appears to be wider than a standard sidewalk. Without proper marking it may be confused as one.
Here is the trail connection on the north side of Spring Valley. As you can see, this is pretty wide and feels more like a multipurpose trail. This leads right into DART’s Spring Valley Station.
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