FULSHEAR (Katy News report) – Four cities and one county have joined forces to create a 31-mile hiking and biking trail that will run through three counties.
When completed, Trail 1093 (for FM 1093) will run west from Fulshear through Weston Lakes, both of which are in Fort Bend County. The trail will continue across the Brazos River and through Wallis in southern Austin County. The trail will continue to Eagle Lake in Colorado County.
The vision is that the trail will be a high-quality, safe trail that requires minimal maintenance and can encourage economic development. There is no specific completion or opening date yet, as plans are still in the works. But the 1093 Rails-to-Trails project has been underway since 2022, when the four cities and Austin County formed the 1093 Rails-to-Trials Local Government Corporation.
Belinda Halfin, the company’s chief executive, said the project began when officials learned that the Fort Bend County Toll Road Authority had acquired the easement for the rail line from METRO in 2015. Further discussions followed.
“So there’s this abandoned area, and a few of us started talking about how we’d like to turn this abandoned, overgrown area into something beautiful,” said Halfin, who works at Fluor Corporation in her day job. “It kind of evolved. And then, thanks to the Houston-Galveston Area Council, they kind of stepped in and started helping us organize. And from that point on, we decided as we talked to several cities over time.”
The creation of the corporation was important because it will both promote the trail project and oversee construction, which will occur in phases as funding becomes available. Halfin said the corporation was formed because the companies agreed that one entity needed to coordinate the project.
“Instead of this county official, then Weston Lakes, then Fulshear trying to talk to each individual to get something done comprehensively, we had to be a local government entity,” Halfin said. “It’s like we need a single point of contact to contract and get things done.”
The company expects to continue to engage communities and local authorities as the planning process continues. The committee meets every Monday at 4pm in Wallis and meetings are accessible via Zoom.
Some meetings have already taken place, said Halfin.
“Thanks to a grant from the National Park Service, they were actually able to do the interfaces and citizen engagement meetings,” Halfin said. “We had three public meetings. One was in Fulshear, one in Wallis and one in Eagle Lake. Then we had some virtual meetings, and that’s how the draft vision plan came about.”
The plan is available on the 1093 Rails-to-Trails website. In the meantime, the company is working with volunteers for various activities, including planning, marketing, fundraising and field outreach. Halfin said the group carefully logs the hours worked.
“We want to know when people donate a lot of time and recognize that,” Halfin said.
Fulshear Mayor Don McCoy described the program as a very good, positive program that will serve the health and well-being of Fulshear.
“We have a young population here and this is important to them,” McCoy said. “It could also have a big economic impact on our region.”
McCoy said the program will also help preserve Fulshear’s environmentally friendly, small-town feel. In Cross Creek, he said, some areas still retain some of their rural feel.
“We want to preserve the small-town feel in the country, and there’s nothing better to promote that than the Rails to Trails project,” McCoy said. “It will enhance the quality of life in Fulshear. It will be a beautiful, well-maintained place that can foster a sense of community.”
Halfin said she thought the project was worthwhile.
“I’ve been involved for several years now,” Halfin said. “So far, I’m pretty excited that we’re finally making progress, that we’ve established our local government agency, that we have a dedicated board. We’re now working toward actually being on the ground, maybe at least on a small scale, just to show, hey, we’re still here.”
