NEW SIMS BAYOU TRAIL A CONNECTION TO COMMUNITY
In Houston, where some commutes are measured in podcasts instead of minutes, one mile may not seem like much. Along Sims Bayou near Interstate 45, however, officials see it as a huge leap.
Work started recently on a 1.1 mile segment of trail tying to- gether pieces from Milby Park to Glenbrook Park in the Park Place neighborhood to a bayou trail along Sims from I-45 to Reveille Park.
“Our challenge is, we have got to connect these bayous, and the trails along these bayous for the people along them,” Harris County Precinct One Commissioner Rodney Ellis said.
The segment under construction does that and more, officials said at a Thursday groundbreaking.
Neighborhoods just outside Loop 610 between Texas 225 and Texas 288 such as Park Place, Glenbrook Valley, Southeast Houston and Sunnyside have not enjoyed the same bayou beautification as communities along Buffalo, Brays and White Oak bayous. Stitching the Sims trails together, especially as people emerge from the pandemic with changing demands on commuting patterns and outdoor recreational activities, brings that investment south.
The mile-long segment lies in a crucial spot for the area, as it bisects the new Houston Botanic Garden, which opened in September.
“When we talk about enhancing the quality of life of communities, we have a lot of things in mind,” Harris County Precinct Two Commissioner Adrian Garcia said. “When we talk about giving someone an option to turn on an engine or get on a bike, that’s what we are delivering.”
The project, estimated to cost $2.7 million, straddles both county precincts and was developed by the nonprofit Houston Parks Board and the city’s parks and recreation department. Funding came from the parks board, Perry Homes Foundation,
which donated $1 million to improvements along Sims Bayou, and TIRZ 8, which encompasses the Gulfgate area.
With other planned improvements nearby, the total investment in the area will exceed $3.3 million, said Beth White, president of the parks board.
Along the route, which will allow more than four uninterrupted miles of 10foot-wide trail once the mile-long gap is filled, the work will add a small parking area and trailhead at River Drive and the I-45 frontage road and new bayou trail entrances at Westover and Reveille and at Telephone Road and Reveille.
Combined, White said the improvements leave a “lasting transformation” on neighborhoods that have been cut off by freeways.
Like other major trails in Houston, the project is made possible by leveraging the city’s extensive network of bayous. Sims provides much of the area’s drainage to the Gulf of Mexico, but also can be a natural asset in a developed area, White said.
“We need to make sure all of our infrastructure serves more then one purpose,” she said.
The project is one of many covered by Bayou Greenways, a $220 million program to add 150 miles of trails in Houston, mostly along the bayous with additional links along utility corridors.
Though tucked between I-45 and Texas 225, portions of Sims Bayou seem miles away, with lush tree growth along the trail behind businesses and homes. A wide sidewalk along Old Galveston Road carries the trail
northwest and into Milby Park, nestled between a soda bottling plant and the bayou.
Walkers along the existing trails said they welcomed the expansion. Still, some said they welcomed the work only if it came with expanded maintenance and policing.
“People are being robbed in broad daylight,” said Andrea Black, 42, as she pushed her son Sebastian, 2, in a stroller about a block from Glenbrook Park.
Part of that is a function of having few users for the established trails and the dirt paths worn along the bayou, officials said. Once construction is completed by next summer, officials said the hope is higher use will mean more eyes on the trail — as well as fewer four-legged friends roaming the area.
Ellis acknowledged loose dogs are an issue in the community, noting he has bicycled along the dirt trails that the project will turn into concrete paths.
Houston District I Councilman Robert Gallegos, who represents the Park Place area, said his office is working with Houston police to purchase an all-terrain vehicle specifically so police can patrol the trail
and surrounding area.
Use of the trail, Gallegos predicted, will be strong especially near the botanic garden, which occupies land on both sides of Sims Bayou where the trail crosses.
Two bridges — built when the botanic garden was a golf course — allow access to both sides, though the garden’s main entrance is north on Park Place Boulevard.
Officials are still assessing how to divide the botanic garden from the trail, sharing access to the area between the free trail and the garden, which charges $15 admission for adults and $10 for children. Keeping the bayou open to other activities through the botanic garden is crucial, Gallegos said.
“Hopefully, we will be seeing canoes and kayaks coming down Sims Bayou,” he said.
Adding more options for outdoor exploration eventually benefits the entire area, city Parks Director Kenneth Allen said.
“You talk about access and equality and most of it is just free,” Allen said. “That creates a wonderful opportunity for the entire community.”