Eastern Glades – Opened 2020

The first major project of the Master Plan, Clay Family Eastern Glades reclaims 100 acres of largely inaccessible parkland. This project significantly expands picnicking, meeting a growing demand by families wishing to enjoy the Park; adds new parking and restrooms; extends the Seymour Lieberman Trail to a full 3-mile loop; establishes a 5-acre lake and wetlands; provides trails, boardwalks and opportunities to experience and learn about natural habitat systems; and honors the Park’s military history. Phase I of Eastern Glades opened in October 2018, and the complete project – named Clay Family Eastern Glades – opened in 2020.

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Land Bridge and Prairie – Opening 2022

Located in the heart of Memorial Park, the Land Bridge and Prairie Restoration Project is a key component of the Master Plan which the Ten-Year Plan will deliver by 2022. The Land Bridge includes two connections over Memorial Drive that reunite the north and south sides of the Park. This “new” parkland will symbolize the triumph of “green” over “gray”, healing the divide cut by Memorial Drive through the middle of this treasured urban wilderness park half a century ago.  The Prairie Restoration, which adjoins the Land Bridge, re-introduces endangered native Gulf Coast prairie and additional wetlands to areas north and south of Memorial Drive. A new network of trails will provide safe crossing for people and wildlife. Both prairie and wetlands serve important habitat and stormwater management functions and are a key part of the Park’s ecological restoration to ensure resiliency. Together, the Land Bridge and Prairie will distinguish Memorial Park and Houston, serving as an icon to all of a greener and more resilient future.

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Running Complex

The Cullen Running Trails Center is a major programmatic hub on the western side of the Park. Nestled into the southwestern arm of the future Land Bridge, trails will connect the running center to the rest of the Park. With the existing Cullen Running Trails Center building as its anchor, the Running Complex will feature a new concession and restroom building, timing track, gathering spaces, and area for programming. The Complex will be an important central gathering area for all types of Park users, and will provide access to running throughout Memorial Park, whether on the Seymour Lieberman Trail to the north or the natural surface trail network on the Park’s south side.

Southern Arc Trail

This multi-modal trail will traverse the Bayou Wilds, connecting users of all abilities with the Park’s distinctive urban wilderness. The Southern Arc Trail connects to the extensive network of natural surface hike-and-bike trails, providing points of access while offering an immersive nature experience all its own, with views of Buffalo Bayou and the riparian forest and savanna that characterize this area of the Park.

Sports Complex – Opening 2020

Balancing the urban wilderness and active recreation which makes Memorial Park unique in the city, the first phase of the Master Plan’s Sports Complex will open in 2020. This phase is an important process in the Master Plan’s goals of consolidating areas of recreation and reuniting previously fragmented ecological areas. User experience will be enhanced by centralizing the sports fields that are scattered across the Park. The complex will be a dynamic and vibrant area and will include a multi-use sports field for games like rugby, lacrosse, soccer and other field sports; two ballfields; and four sand volleyball courts as well as associated parking. Project design incorporates a forested buffer between I-10 and the new complex.

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Connectivity: Trails and Bridges

A series of trails and bridges will increase connectivity within and beyond Memorial Park, converting the Park from an isolated urban greenspace into a key connector along Houston’s greenways and hike-and-bike paths, encouraging access and welcoming multi-modal forms of transportation to and through the Park.

Projects include:

• North/South Hike-and-Bike Trail
• East/West Hike-and-Bike Trail
• I-10 Pedestrian Bridge
• Running Trail Ravine Bridge
• Buffalo Bayou Bridge
• Memorial Drive East Pedestrian Bridge
• Memorial Park-Uptown Connector Trail

Stormwater Management

Stormwater management improvements will take place throughout the Park and will include ravine and bank stabilization, and other erosion analysis and mitigation efforts. Subsequent ecological resiliency will help retain stormwater onsite and reduce erosion and help improve the water quality in Buffalo Bayou.

Memorial Groves

Memorial Park was the site of Camp Logan, one of the country’s 32 World War I training camps. It was here that tens of thousands of National Guard soldiers were sent to live and train before serving in campaigns across France. The camp was constructed in 1917 and by 1919 most of the structures were dissembled and few traces of this significant history remain. The vision for Memorial Groves is that it will become a forest commemorating the WWI soldiers, with trees in regimental rows that follow the same orientation as Camp Logan’s former tents, streets, and infrastructure. The stories associated with the Camp Logan training camp will be captured and told as a part of this project — some of them heroic, some of them tragic, all of them important.  These stories reflect Houston’s and our nation’s history.  The Groves will stand in stark contrast to the naturalized existing trees, providing moments of ordered stillness and reflection. Clearings of varying sizes will draw light into the groves, creating opportunities for education and gathering.

Other Trails and Connectivity Projects

A series of trails and bridges will increase connectivity within and beyond Memorial Park, converting the Park from an isolated urban greenspace into a key connector along Houston’s greenways and hike-and-bike paths, encouraging access and welcoming multi-modal forms of transportation to and through the Park by 2028.

• Southern Arc Trail: a 1.5 mile, multi-use trail through the south side of Memorial Park’s 600-acre urban wilderness. This is one of the largest centrally-located urban forests in the U.S., and the most distinctive feature of Memorial Park, and is not accessible to most users.
• North/South Hike and Bike Trail: connecting north to NW Transit Center and Heights Hike-Bike; connecting south to Richmond Avenue
• East/West Hike and Bike Trail: connecting east to the Park’s border with Crestwood Dr.
• I-10 Pedestrian Bridge
• Running Trail Ravine Bridge
• Buffalo Bayou Bridge
• Memorial Drive East Pedestrian Bridge
• Memorial Park-Uptown Connector Trail: connecting under I-610 on the Park’s western border to Post Oak Blvd and the Uptown Houston District