Hike-and-bike trail will connect Westchase with Art Storey Park

The 1.9-mile hike and bike trail will follow a Harris County Flood Control District drainage ditch south from from Westchase’s Library Loop Trail.

Construction on the Library Loop Trail, which loops around an existing drainage ditch north of Richmond between Wilcrest and Rogerdale, started in February and is expected to be complete in June, said Irma Sanchez, vice president for projects at the Westchase District.

She said the $4 million trail from Westchase to Art Storey Park just south of Bellaire Boulevard will be funded by a $3 million grant from the Federal Transit Administration and $1 million from the Westchase District.

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Sanchez expects the design to be complete and put out for bid by September, with construction to start by the end of the year. She hopes the trail will be open sometime in the spring of 2013.

Some 20 or so people attended Tuesday’s open-house style presentation of the trail’s design at Abundant Life Church on Harwin.

Drawings were mounted on poster boards and displayed on easels. Architects from SWA Group gave an informal presentation, describing the route and proposed amenities.

The trail will run along the ditch’s west bank from Westchase to Harwin, where it will cross over to the east bank on to Art Storey Park. A short stub trail from Harwin will connect the main trail to a trail in the city of Houston’s Harwin Park.

The trail will also connect to the Metro Park and Ride at Harwin and Beltway 8.

Connectivity and mobility alternatives are drivers in Westchase’s trail plans, said James Vick of SWA.

As other management district’s and governmental entities build trails, he said, “maybe someday you can live in Westchase and ride a bike all the way to the Ship Channel.”

Assistant director of projects Tom Gall said the district hopes in the future to build a trail north from the Library Loop to connect with Terry Hershey Park along Buffalo Bayou. That would connect Westchase with the Energy Corridor and points west.

The International Management District, which encompasses a large swath of Southwest Houston south of Harwin, is leading a project to build a trail connecting Art Storey Park with other parks in that district.

The Westchase District’s trails are part of its long-range plan, completed in 2006.

“A major part of the vision was utilizing the drainage channels,” Gall said.

He said the trail connecting Westchase with Art Storey Park has no at-grade street crossings, taking advantage of underpasses at intersections.

Dr. Ed Montgomery, pastor of Abundant Life Church, can’t wait for the trail to be built.

“We have picnics and activities over in Harwin Park (across Harwin from his church),” he said. “We’ll be able to walk over to the trail and into the park without having to cross Harwin.”