With a multitude of economic, environmental, and physical and mental health benefits, Professor John Crompton of Texas A&M estimates annual benefits to be in excess of $117 million. Running from headwaters to confluence, each of Bayou Greenways are based on a diverse ecological heritage and commitment to quality of life for all.  In 2012, voters approved $100 million in public funding for the 150 mile long first phase of the project with a private match of $105 million.  The resulting work is a source of civic pride and an emphatic expression of place

Reconnecting: the team researched bayou history, studied current and projected local development trends, and created a detailed site inventory based upon helicopter aerial reconnaissance, hundreds of miles of hiking, and several million bytes of geodata.  Demonstrating viability in the modern era, the Master Plan achieves the ideals of Comey and fulfills the aspirations of its community. Houston’s waterways stitch together a poetic composition of place, spanning a spectrum of wild and untamed to constructed and civilized. The bayous are a matrix of multiple ecosystems weaving together. Along 1 mile of trail there could be as many as 7 ecological conditions with distinct characteristics. The spectrum ranges from dense forest to open meadow.

Design for people : 60% of houstonians will be within reasonable walking distance of a bayou greenway. A study by professor john crompton of texas a&m equated the projected annual economic, environmental, and physical and mental health benefits of the project to be equivalent to $117 millionParagraph planning: the integrated programming and analysis phase directs local designers to engage each segment by ground truthing and verifying opportunities and constraints. Serving as the final step before construction documentation, this process solidifies design decisions

Phased implementation: Encompassing 4 County Precincts, the City of Houston, 140 Municipal Utility Districts, 88 Super Neighborhoods, 40 Management Districts, and 23 Tax Reinvestment Zones, the project spans numerous jurisdictions and associated implementation obstacles. Perhaps the greatest success to date is the public’s embrace in carrying out the vision. As a first step toward implementation, a bond measure was introduced to fund all missing connections within the City. Comprising approximately half of the overall Master Plan, it is called “Bayou Greenways 2020”. To compare, Portland, representing the next largest green network in the nation, is about half of Bayou Greenways 2020’s 150 miles of multi-use trails. In 2012, receiving the highest approval of all measures on the city ballot, Houston voters approved $100 million in public funding for the project with a private match of $105 million.

Parks matter. The Bayou Greenways project leverages the power of open space at all scales and provides immense quality of life benefits. Simple in concept, complex in execution, the resulting work is creates a new Houston Legacy.