FULSHEAR (Covering Katy News)—Four cities and a county have joined forces to create a 31-mile hiking and biking trail that will run through three counties.
When finished, the 1093 trail—for FM 1093—will run westward from Fulshear through Weston Lakes, both of which are in Fort Bend County. The trail will continue over 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 would be a high-quality, safe trail requiring minimal maintenance and can encourage economic development. There is no definite completion or opening date, 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, corporation chairwoman, said the project began when officials learned that the Fort Bend County Toll Road Authority had acquired the easement of the rail line from METRO in 2015. Further discussions ensued.
“So, here’s this abandoned area, and a couple of us started talking about we’d love to change this abandoned, overgrown area into something, nice,” Halfin, who in her regular job works at Fluor Corporation, said. “It kind of evolved. And then, thanks to the Houston-Galveston Area Council, they kind of stepped in and started helping us organize it. And from that point we decided as we got talking to several of the towns along the way.”
Forming the corporation was important because it both promotes the trail project and supervises the construction, which will happen in phases as funding becomes available. Halfin said the corporation came about because the entities agreed that one entity needed to coordinate the project.
“Instead of this county person, and then Weston Lakes, and then Fulshear, trying to talk to each one to get anything done comprehensively, we needed to be a local government corporation,” Halfin said. “It’s like we needed to have one point of reference to make contracts to do things.”
The corporation expects to continue engaging communities, and local governments, as the planning process continues. The commission board meets at 4 p.m. every Monday in Wallis, and the meetings are accessible by Zoom.
Some meetings have already taken place, Halfin said.
“Thanks to a grant from the National Park Service, they actually conducted the community involvement interfaces and meetings,” Halfin said. “We had three public meetings. One was in Fulshear, one was in Wallis and one was in Eagle Lake. Then, we had some virtual meetings, and that’s what created the draft vision plan.”
The plan can be accessed on the 1093 Rails-to-Trails website. Meanwhile, the corporation is working with volunteers for various activities, including planning, marketing, fundraising and boots-on-the-ground. Halfin said the group is careful to track the hours worked.
“We want to know when people are donating a lot of time and recognize that,” Halfin said.
Fulshear Mayor Don McCoy described the program as a very good, positive program that would be health and wellness in Fulshear.
“We have a young demographic out here, and that’s important to them,” McCoy said. “It could also bring a lot of economic impact to our area.”
McCoy said he thought the program would also help preserve Fulshear’s environmental, small-town feel. At Cross Creek, he said, some areas still have some of the country feel.
“We want to maintain that small town country feel, and there’s nothing better to promote this than the rails to trails project,” McCoy said. “It will add to the quality of life in Fulshear. It will be a beautiful, well-maintained space that can promote a sense of community.”
Halfin said she thought the project was worthwhile.
“I’ve been on it for several years now.” Halfin said. “To this point, I’m kind of excited that we’re finally getting some headway, that we got our local government corporation formed, that we have a board that’s engaged. We are now working toward actual boots on the ground, possibly at least in a small way, just to show, hey, we’re here still.”