Memorial Park and Buffalo Bayou Park in Houston will be connected by an upcoming trail - Houston Public Media

Less than 2 miles separate two of the largest and most popular parks in Houston.

But for urban bicyclists and pedestrians, the path between Buffalo Bayou Park and Memorial Park seems long and full of hazards. There is no path along the bayou, and Memorial Drive, lined with residences and businesses, often congested with traffic, and lined by a narrow shared-use sidewalk, is the only major road connecting the two city parks.

"They are so close, but the lack of a safe and inviting connection between them makes them feel so far apart," said Joe Catrufo, executive director of BikeHouston, a local nonprofit organization that advocates for cyclists.

That gap will be closed, however, as the Houston Parks Board will receive $8.1 million to make it happen. The Buffalo Bayou Greenway Connector project was selected for funding under the Places 4 People initiative by Harris County Precinct 4 Commissioner Leslie Briones, who announced Wednesday that a total of $170 million will be allocated to 32 different infrastructure projects in her district, which includes the northwest and west sides of the county.

These include 13 other trail connection projects, as well as a number of Brays Bayou crossings, intersection and sidewalk initiatives, roadway drainage projects, public parks, and METRO bus stops.

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Houston Parks Board President and CEO Beth White said the nonprofit organization has already invested about $5.4 million in the land acquisition initiative, work along the bay and preliminary engineering. More detailed design of the project, which will total $13.5 million, will likely begin before the end of this year, she said.

The connecting trail will be part of a larger Bayou Greenways initiative that includes a total of 150 miles of trails along nine Houston bays, though it was not originally part of the plan.

"We've been quietly working on it for a while," she said. "It wasn't part of the original 150-mile program, but we've wanted to make that connection for a long time."

Catrufo said connecting Buffalo Bayou and Memorial Park is a "definite plus" in the city's trail network, which has been gradually expanded in recent years as city and county leaders allocate funds to make better use of the region's green space and provide more multimodal transportation options.

REFERENCES: Houston is moving away from its reputation as a car-centric city thanks to a series of multimodal infrastructure projects

Both parks have well-used trails, and Memorial Park has a popular bike loop, but the trails do not extend east of Memorial Park or west of Buffalo Bayou Park, leaving a distance of just over 1 mile between them. Catrufo said that on weekends when the weather is nice, walkers, joggers and bicyclists can often be seen on the sidewalk between the two parks, which is on the south side of Memorial Drive.

According to Catrufo, the planned connecting route "can't come soon enough."

White said the plan is to extend the existing trail in Buffalo Bayou Park to the west, running it along the bayou as long as possible, and then transferring it to Memorial Drive to the north. This road leads to Memorial Park.

"It's definitely a big deal," Catrufo said. "It's a crucial connection between two of Houston's biggest and best parks."