Park officials have opened a new 0.9 mile trail in Round Rock after completion of a construction project costing $3.1 million.
The trail starts near the junction of I-35 and FM 620, with parking at Memorial Park in Round Rock. It represents ‘Phase Five’ of the Brushy Creek Regional Trail, a county trail system.
Planning for the regional trail system began in 2000, seeking to connect over 30 miles from Cedar Park to Hutto. The project has been constructed in phases through multiple jurisdictions over the years.
Not all parts of the trail connect, however, and not all parts of the plan have been completed. Seven miles of trail run eastward from Twin Lakes Park in Cedar Park to Hairy Man Road in Round Rock.
The newly opened section has a dead-end with a sign instructing hikers to turn back around and follow the same route to exit the trail.
Voters in 2019 approved a bond to fund the next phase of the trail, which will close the 1.5-mile gap between the new section and the older and longer western section ending along Hairy Man Road. Later, it will also be extended eastward to connect with Round Rock’s Heritage trail, in the direction of Hutto.
The new ‘phase five’ segment was harder to build than some other parts of the trail because it runs through the heart of Round Rock.
RVi, an Austin firm of planners and landscape architects, assisted with right-of-way acquisition from almost a dozen landowners along the trail corridor, and developed the final design.
The trail features an elevated boardwalk over an existing wastewater line and “sensitive habitat,” as well as a 100-foot steel pedestrian bridge to span Brushy Creek.
The contractor, Chasco Constructors, started building in October 2018. The project was paid for with bond funds approved by voters in a 2013 bond referendum, plus a federal transportation grant of $826,000.
Williamson County Parks Director Russell Fishbeck commented, “This section of trail is absolutely beautiful. There are so many wonderful spots to stop and lose track of time listening to the rippling water of the flowing creek.”
County staff and contractors celebrated the new trail with a “virtual ribbon cutting”:
