Memorial Park sets Feb. 11 as new date for land bridge grand opening – Houston Public Media

Nelson Byrd Woltz

The general public unveiling of the Land Bridge & Prairie undertaking at Houston’s Memorial Park, postponed from December due to weather-related development delays, has been rescheduled for February.

The Memorial Park Conservancy introduced Friday that the brand new amenity’s grand opening — a free occasion billed as “The Greatest Picnic in Texas” — will probably be held from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Feb. 11 at 7575 Picnic Ln. The festivities will embrace dwell music, face portray, meals vans, stamp accumulating and self-guided excursions of the 100-acre house, which bridges the north and south sides of the park for hikers, cyclists and wildlife.

A restricted variety of stocked picnic baskets will probably be supplied, in line with the Memorial Park Conservancy, which mentioned guests can convey their very own baskets so long as they don’t comprise glass containers.

On-site parking will probably be restricted, so attendees are inspired to make use of public transportation or off-site parking. Paid parking is on the market at 1643 Memorial Dr., Lot H, with a free shuttle service to the park.

The land bridge undertaking is a part of the conservancy’s 10-year, $200 million grasp plan for Memorial Park, which sees greater than 4 million guests per yr and since 2020 has hosted a PGA Tour occasion at Memorial Park Golf Course. The Clay Household Jap Glades and the primary part of a sports activities advanced have beforehand been accomplished as a part of the grasp plan.

Work on the land bridge undertaking started in August 2020 with an estimated price of $70 million. The a part of Memorial Drive that runs via Houston’s largest city park was reworked with 4 vehicular tunnels – two for westbound site visitors and two for eastbound vacationers – with a pair of 35-foot hills constructed over the tunnels to function land bridges.

The addition of about 100 acres of prairie with native Gulf Coast vegetation is a part of the undertaking, which can present scenic views of Downtown Houston from atop the hills whereas aiming to mitigate flooding dangers and cut back the impacts of local weather change. A wildlife tunnel additionally has been created that runs beneath Memorial Drive.

Roughly 500,000 cubic yards of soil from inside Memorial Park was used to create the land bridges, in line with the conservancy’s web site, which mentioned that soil was enriched with compost created from inexperienced materials contained in the park.