Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Pedaling Past Huffines Veridian In Arlington's River Legacy Park With A Lot Of Other People

Bike Resting At The River Legacy Park 7 Mile Marker
I had intended to ride my bike with the Indian Ghosts at Village Creek Natural Historical Area today. But, that park was closed due to flooding.

So, I headed to River Legacy Park, instead.

I pedaled all the way to the end of the paved trail, to the 7 mile marker, at the far northeast side of River Legacy Park.

When I decided to give up bike riding, well over a year ago, I really thought I would never see this location again.

It has now been several years since the River Legacy Park paved trail has terminated at this northeast location. When this trail was opened I remember reading that the trail would soon be extended to the east, to eventually connect with the Dallas paved trails along the Trinity River.

But, that particular river vision has not happened.

I was very surprised at the number of people I saw biking, blading, walking and pushing baby strollers at River Legacy Park today. Such a change from when I first visited this park soon upon my arrival in Texas.

There seems to be an uptick in visitors in all the parks I visit.

Methinks Texans are getting more active and this is why Texas is not ranking as high as it once did in various obesity level rankings. This is not a sad state of affairs in a state which claims everything is bigger in Texas. This is one area where I think Texas does not want to be bigger.

I am looking forward to biking at River Legacy Park on a Saturday or Sunday when the weather is good. It should be very busy, seeings how it was so busy today, on a Tuesday.

The Huffines development, that abuts the north side of River Legacy Park on the east side of Collins Street, that was sort of mothballed after the 2008 economic meltdown, continues to have work done.

New Trail To Huffines Veridian Development
I saw a large sign being constructed near where the River Legacy trail goes under Collins Street. The sign looked like V's. If my memory is serving me correctly, the Huffines development is called Veridian, hence the V's.

Paved trails are being constructed from the River Legacy Park paved trail to the Huffines development. That was a bit of a surprising development. Seems like such a trail would be developed after the development got developed.

Pedaling around 12 miles on the River Legacy Park paved trails sort of indicated to me that I have been missing this type of exercise. I don't think I was pedaling at as fast a pace as I used to.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Does your bike have some type of white cladding on the side rails? I think we passed--that is, on the trail this afternoon.

I was also a bit surprised to see the new trail extension being constructed connecting RL to Veridian, a private development. What will be used to keep park users out? Stern signage? Some type gate?

Too bad you didn't photograph the development's new entry off Collins. A stunning row of vertically set huge flagstones with what appears to be a stylized Burger King crown soaring toward the sky. Very odd pairing.

A few months ago, I picked then councilman Mel LeBlanc about the financial health of this development. Bad economy, running way behind schedule. All I've seen the last year is massive dirt moving. Mr. LeBlanc assured me Huffines had all the money in the world to see it thru.

Maybe Durango will be inclined to revisit and comment more on this mammoth project.
-River Leg Fan

Durango said...

Anonymous, my bike is mostly white with a little green. I don't think it has any white cladding.

I also wondered how those new side trails are going to work. Long ago I was told by a Veridian construction guy that that first lake that that trail extension runs to was going to be a public swimming lake with a beach. I'll believe that when I see it happen.

I think I saw what you are calling the entry, on the way out. On the way back I'd forgot to look again. I was sort of in a hurry.

But, I will be back. Was really surprised by the large number of people on the trails today. Looking forward to riding it on a Saturday.

Anonymous said...

I'm guessing that Durango "Mongoose" Jones bought his bike at Wally World.

Andy said...

I may have been one of the rollerbladers you saw. And yes, since moving to an apartment in this area 16 months ago I have been surprised to find that there are often as many of more people using the trails on weeknights than when I go on weekends before 3pm-ish.

I bike, blade, and walk both the 7-mile trail you were on and the big center loop in RLP proper, which unfortunately is messed up while they re-do the parking lot.

As far as Viridian, I like the entrance landscaping, and on the one hand it would be cool if this became an even more vibrant/diverse community space like White Rock, but on the other hand, that means more traffic crowding the trail, more despoiling of the greenspace, and more PEOPLE LETTING THEIR DOGS CRAP ON THE TRAIL. I mean come on, if you're not gonna clean up after your pet, at LEAST walk three feet off to crap in the grass and let nature recycle it. This is one of the reasons I still support the death penalty. Can we have the president send one of his new NDAA black ops drones to assassinate these poo-terrorists?