tcs

FWIW, videos of riding DFW trails:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBq...MVl2YZpQ6izoFQ

Couple o' years back the North Texas Council of Governments collected videos of local trails:

https://www.nctcog.org/trans/plan/bi...eloweb/bikeweb

tcs

Work continues on the Ft. Worth -> Dallas bike trail, including (Sigh. Just pour the concrete, guys.) a branding/naming effort, headed by a consulting firm someone hired. Name and logo survey here:

https://fortworthtodallastrail.altaplanning.cloud/

Map:

https://www.nctcog.org/nctcg/media/Transportation/DocsMaps/Plan/Bike/FWtoDALTrailMap.pdf

https://www.nctcog.org/getmedia/351bdbc3-9495-4468-a8f2-7765fd28de81/FWtoDALTrailMap.pdf

Big interactive map of (nearly) all DFW trails:

https://nctcoggis.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=fff676318a624e50845e505842f54fe2

1sp33d

Thanks for posting all this info. I just moved to Dallas and trying to learn my way around on the bike paths.

doudoubleg

Depending on where you live there are quite a few. However, the link between Dallas and FTW is lacking.

Does anyone have an update on the construction slated to complete June 2022 on the Trinity Lakes Trail East and TLT West on the very far eastern side of FTW that joins up to River Legacy Park? That is a 5 miles stretch that would be nice to be on the trail.

If not, then I guess that I need to venture out there and report back. As it stands from SMU its about 62 miles to FTW and i think 45+ are on a trail.

1sp33d

+1 on that info.

What route do you take to get to FTW from SMU?

doudoubleg

i was going to send you a strava link, but cannot until i have 10 posts.

katy trail - > AAC - > ron kirk bridge - > trinity river trail -> champion trail -> irving blvd -> dropping back down isn a neighborhood to the trail -> river legacy park - > greenway rd -> trinity Blvd - > back through a neighborhood -> trinity lake trail to FTW then hop off and cross over 30 via a road bridge near the halfway house -> street into SOMA.

this would be easier if i could post a strava link strava says 56 from SMU

1sp33d

Thanks! I'll try to bring it up on Strava or put it together on the map.

tcs

In 1980/81 we'd just ride 183 back and forth. "An elegant route for a more civilized age."

There are more efficient routes, but to ride (Lake Benbrook)FtW->Dal(Allen) using the maximum mileage of today's existing paths:

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/36355705

You know RidewithGPS's paved/gravel feature isn't very good, right? This route is all paved.

Another option is to ride Ft. Worth's Trinity Trails to the low water crossing before Handley-Ederville, easy ride north through the industrial area to the Trinity Railway Express Richland Hills station, take the train two three stops to the West Irving station, then ride Irving's new Rock Island Trail to Irby Lane, pedal a short way through the neighborhood to Irving Library/Centennial Park and pick up the Delaware Creek Trail down to Nursery Rd to Trinity River/Mountain Creek Park where you can pick up the Campion on towards Dallas. NOTE: The Trinity Railway Express does NOT run on Sundays. Note: The new Delaware Creek Trail definitely exists but isn't on any map.

https://ridewithgps.com/routes/37934435

Just to take your bike from city to city for some fun riding 'over there', you can combine DART Red Line with TexRail seven days a week, exchanging @ DFW Airport. Red Line @ Burbank Station (near Bachman Lake) or Victory Park Station (at the south end of the Katy Trail) and TexRail at Northside Station (near the Stockyards) or Fort Worth Central (in d/t FtW). Check the schedules on the train so you don't knock down a bunch of time chilling at the stations.

tcs

Checked a couple of weeks ago and - happy to be wrong about this, but - didn't even see any signs of construction. Sigh.

bikebikebike

The bridge over 75 proceeds apace, but still for the life of me I can't see why it was a big deal to cross under Central at Northaven, between Royal and Forest.
? maybe homeless camps, but really I did i've done it for decades
Money prolly spent as payoff of a developer, that could have done serious good dozens of other ways.
There is NOTHING really walkable around there for miles as a destination. Coupla small strip malls, maybe.
Sigh


@tcs can you do the DLS to FW run on skinny tires or is there mud and gravel on your route?
Aha, RWGPS map sez it

tcs

It's a "signature" bridge Dallas was able to get some federal money to build, like the $122,000,000 Margaret McDermott bike bridge (THAT DOESN'T CONNECT TO ANY CYCLING INFRASTRUCTURE ON EITHER END) or the University Crossing Trail bridge over Mockingbird (that took eleven years to build).

For the expense of the Central Expressway signature bridge, they could probably have put in a half dozen Joe Ratcliffe-style prefab bridges over freeway, rail lines and/or river/creek locations around town. Oh, Dallas, show over go, every time.

Whoa, pardner! RWGPS's paved-or-gravel function is, charitably, not always reliable.

1) Waifu & I have ridden it on our folding bikes with ISO37x349 (16") tires. No problemo.
2) Just so you know, it's a fun but not 'efficient' route. It uses the maximum mileage of existing path...and, beating a dead horse here, the current FtW->Dal path has gaps. I'm a 'journey' cyclist and I kinda like this interim route. If you're a 'destination' cyclist, it might bug you.
3) There are places where you might have to push your bike up an embankment to connect road-to-path or bikehike to turn left over a median. Going west-to-east, you get to the thoroughfare of Brown Boulevard and you have to do about a block and I swear it's one of the steepest hills in DFW -PLUS- there's no kind of traffic sightlines, so heck, we're easy, we just walked the block uphill.
4) Very little distance on major streets, though!
5) I have hopes of modifying and improving this route as 100% path connects the metroplex east-west...before I die. Just a bit more path in a few places would eliminate a couple of big meanders on the streets.

doudoubleg

[QUOTE=tcs;22576343]In 1980/81 we'd just ride 183 back and forth. "An elegant route for a more civilized age."

There are more efficient routes, but to ride (Lake Benbrook)FtW->Dal(Allen) using the maximum mileage of today's existing paths:

ride gps.....

Wow, that is a healthy ride. 122 miles. our Dallas to FTW portion is similar, i just head north to trinity bld vs. south when the trails peter out.

tcs

Well, Lake Benbrook to Allen - quite a distance on either side of D/Ts. It's cool that the trails & cycle lanes will take a rider that far. It'll be cooler when it's connected & done.

doudoubleg

made the ride to FTW from Dallas today utilizing levees, paved trails and surface roads. Unfortunately, i saw ZERO progress or even a start on the portions of the trail that were supposed to be completed in June 2022.

The trail does now have an official name. The DFW discovery trail.

1sp33d

With all the corporate sponsorships out there, I wonder why City of Dallas or others can't get some money from Trek or Zwift (or whoever) to get a named portion or segment of a trail. Seems like a win/win scenario and could get the ball rolling a little faster.

tcs

Driving down Central the other day noting the lack of visible progress, it occurred to me that if they'd turned the helix counterclockwise, the uphill riders/pedestrians/wheelchair users would have a modestly less steep slope to surmount, and the span over the freeway could have been shorter.

Well, I'm sure there were excellent reasons for designing it the way they did.




Eastern entrance to the cycle path (south side) on the Margaret McDermott Bridge:



Shrug. No step for a stepper.

tcs

Adventurers/explorers @ DFW GravelGrinders relate that a ~5 mile, half paved/half gravel path now encircles North Lake @ Cypress Waters/Coppell. This is just off the northernmost end of the Campion, although in the great DFW tradition of eschewing connectivity, the pathways are separated by a fence and private property signs.

tcs

The helix deck is in place since this:

tcs

The future 7.5 mi Trinity Forest Spine Trail, connecting WRL with the Audubon Center on South Loop 12:

tcs

Relatively quietly, and without a video or 'Friends" group I can find, on the southside Cedar Crest Trail (marked East Oak Cliff Trail on some maps) has been extended from the DART Blue Line Illinois station to nowhere in particular to the southwest, where at some point along the way it might turn into Honey Springs Trail. If you can stand to ride on a street, you can peel off at East Frio Drive and ride south to Glendale Park, where you can pick up Five Mile Creek Trail which connects to Singing Hills Trail which connects to Runyon Creek Trail which terminates at UNT-Dallas, ~1/2 mi north of I20 (south loop LBJ).

Edit: Here's a photo-map. My bright pink oval highlights a critical missing trail connection at Illinois/Lancaster/Corinth. Sigh. Otherwise, nice little trail system going here in Oak Cliff, with expansion possibilities for the future. My bright green line indicates E. Frio, the residential street that leads to the newish trail that goes all the way to UNT-Dallas.

tcs

Did you know the Metroplex is like the size of Connecticut? Anyway, I need to get all the way over to that part of town and sniff around, but it looks like they finished the bike path up (and I do mean up) the west side of Belt Line from the dam turn-off* to Sleepy Hollow Drive. This runs past Joe Cool Pool Lake State Park and through, uh, something of indeterminate origin and function (help me out, here, gang).




Edit: It's an observation deck! It affords views to the west across Joe Pool Lake



The similar, smaller structure on the path to the south is art.


*Corps of Engineers has closed the path across Joe Pool Dam. Damn.

doudoubleg

Not sure if I can upload a picture but there is work being done on the Trinity River Spine Trail off the north end of the Santa Fe Trail just south of Garland road. Currently building a bridge and trail.

joesch

Good to see all the progress (slow) on connecting D<==>FW bike paths.
I have cycled on most of them and really wish it was completed so the more risky roads are not still needed.

Im in N.Dal so mostly ride the trails in the North of the city and several times weekly ride trails to WRL for some lake paths and back.

Joined a group of WRL meetup riders which also included FWBA group riders last week for a ride from Grapevine to the FW stockyards. The paths and roads around Grapevine lake also also very fun to ride.

There are soo many great trails and roads in FW that I usually just drive there and enjoy riding. Martin House is my fav for an after ride brew. Usually some good food truck(s) and sometimes events in the nice big yard with the Trinity views.

Im a bike collector so depending on my mood, I maybe riding an classic Italian road bike, single speed, or more modern CF. Look forward to meeting more of the DFW riders and considering joining FWBA to learn more of the road routes in FW.

tcs

Hey, Fort Worth Peeps! What's the status of the new trail connection between Buck Sansom Park and Marine Creek Reservoir? The West Fork of the Trinity trail @ Anahuac Ave. to the hairpin on Cahoba Dr.?

Any construction activity on the eastern end of Trinity Trails between River Trails Park and Arlington's Legacy Park Trails?

doudoubleg

North Texas Council of Governments has updated the construction progress on the DFW discovery trail (from dallas to ftw). Not shocked, but disappointed to say that the only update in their March 2023 connection map was to kick out the completion dates of all the "under construction" sections by a year or more.

i cannot post the url but a quick google search of nctcog.org/trans/plan/bikeped/veloweb/fort-worth-to-dallas-regional-trail should bring you to the right page.