Sugar Land, TX – Sugar Land City Council recently authorized the execution of an advance funding agreement with the state of Texas to receive a $3.8 million Federal grant to fund the Gannoway Lake Trails Project.
The city pursued the funding to ensure community needs are met while minimizing the impact on local taxpayers. Years of public feedback has shown strong support for a trail network through the city that provides recreational opportunities and active mobility options for residents.
The $3.8 million grant includes $760,000 from the Houston-Galveston Area Council. The city also received $800,000 from the 2020 Fort Bend County Parks Bond. No city funding is required for the Federal grant.
The Gannoway Lake Trails Project is a predominantly off-street shared-use path that will begin north of Gannoway Lake on Burney Road. There is an existing 4-foot wide sidewalk along the southbound/west side of Burney Road that will be widened to 6 feet and end at Vinehill Drive. The new sidewalk will extend about 330 feet to the south to continue along Burney Road, then it will continue off-road along Gannoway Lake where it will transition to an elevated 10-foot wide boardwalk that will hug the southern shore of the wetland lake.
The boardwalk will transition to a 10-foot wide shared-use path beyond the lake and meander through a wooded area and an open field north of Oyster Creek before connecting to an existing 16-foot-wide multimodal bridge, where the path will join the existing trails within the Imperial Development. The trail will end at the State Highway 6 and Crown Garden Trail intersection.
The project will pick up again at this intersection and includes safety improvements to the crosswalk and a continuation of an 8-foot sidewalk up to the existing shared pedestrian/roadway bridge over Oyster Creek.
The pedestrian portion will be widened to 8 feet by moving the concrete barrier over into the shoulder of the roadway. A new sidewalk will continue from the bridge northward, where it will meet up with the park trails at Cullinan Park, currently under construction -- creating a non-motorized transportation option for the nearby residential areas to get to Cullinan Park is the primary focus of the project.
“The project will result in a convenient and logical route that offers improved access to destinations the community was previously unable to easily reach using non-motorized modes of transportation,” said Transportation and Mobility Manager Melanie Beaman. “It will improve access to parks, sports attractions and events at the nearby ballpark, residences, and future restaurants and retail centers planned within the Imperial Development. The new pedestrian facilities will provide a critical link between the park areas and nearby neighborhoods, ensuring that visitors can arrive by foot or bicycle as much as possible, cutting down on the need for parking spaces that take away from other more economically sustainable land uses.”
The project is part of ongoing efforts to implement the Sugar Land Pedestrian and Bicycle Master Plan (now a part of the 2023 Mobility Master Plan), a document that identifies a future trail system that includes 24 miles of bike lanes, an additional 18 miles of on-street shared lanes for bicycles, and 128 miles of pedestrian and bike paths.
The plan’s network of pedestrian and bicycle routes focuses on connecting key destinations such as schools and commercial areas. In addition, the plan identifies areas for improved crossings at major barriers such as U.S. Highway 59, State Highway 6, U.S. Highway 90A, the railroad, and the Brazos River.
Sugar Land residents have expressed a continued need to invest in trail projects that support mobility, recreation and easy access to destination locations that support the local economy. As an example, voters approved a $31.5 million bond election in 2013 to fund parks projects.
Engineering and design phases of the Gannoway project are anticipated to begin in fall 2024 and will take approximately 10 months to complete. Construction is projected to begin soon after and will last roughly 12 months.