Katy Trail (Dallas) - History

History

The trail's life began when the Union Pacific Railroad, which had bought the Katy, donated the abandoned lines to the city in 1993. The train tracks that are now the location of the Katy Trail formed the major east-bound route through Dallas of the former Missouri-Kansas-Texas (MKT or “Katy”) Railroad, which shut down in the late 1980s. The stations, which had served Dallas residents on their trips back East for so many years, were torn down, but the tracks remained.

In the early 1980s The Katy was initially considered for DART's Red and Blue lines to the Northeast, but the current route beneath Central Expressway was chosen instead.

By the early 1990s, Dallas residents, business people, and city and county officials proposed restoring the greenbelt along the railroad route and creating an urban park as part of the national Rails to Trails Conservancy program, established in 1986 and based in Washington, D.C.

Initial funding for the project came through Dallas County and state grants. The Friends of the Katy Trail, a nonprofit organization, was founded in 1997 to organize public and private support for development and maintenance of the Katy Trail. Their capital campaign has since raised $11 million from government sources and $12 million from private funding and land donations.

The Katy Trail is intended to provide an effective way of connecting the various city parks running from White Rock Lake to the planned park system along the Trinity River—it runs alongside Reverchon Park and the park system along Turtle Creek.