The Northaven Trail’s master plan runs from Central Expressway to Denton Drive through North Dallas with plans to connect to the White Rock Creek Trail on the east and Irving’s Campion Trail on the west. There will be connections to DART’s Forest Lane Station and Walnut Hill / Denton Station. The western expansion was completed in early 2020. The connector to the White Rock Creek Trail and Cottonwood Trail began in spring 2021 and was completed in November of 2023.

NORTHAVEN TRAIL BRIDGE UPDATEs

TxDOT and its contractor, Ragle, Inc., moved the Northaven Trail Bridge into place over US 75 in September 2023. The 201-foot span, designed by HNTB, weighs more than 800,000 pounds and was pieced together in a nearby parking lot several months before the big move. The highly choreographed move was executed flawlessly over 20 hours one weekend. The bridge opens to bicycle and pedestrian traffic in fall 2023.

Video courtesy of Texas Department of Transportation

For more images of the Northaven Trail Bridge, please visit our photo gallery.

September, 2023 The Texas Department of Transportation (TXDOT) and their partners have been working hard to finish the bridge over Central Expressway that will connect Northaven Trail with the White Rock Creek Trail and Cottonwood Creek Trail on the east side of the highway. Construction started in spring 2021 and will be finished this fall. Click here for the project overview from TXDOT. A ribbon cutting ceremony for the bridge opening will be held in late fall 2023. For information on the project design, please visit this link. And check out our YouTube channel for some cool videos of the bridge being constructed and put into place over the highway.

Video of the planned bridge

Overhead illustration from the west side

Overhead illustration of bridge from east side

Illustration of what it looks like to cross the bridge

Native Landscaping coming to the Trail in 2021

[DALLAS, TEXAS, January 3, 2020] Friends of the Northaven Trail is pleased to announce the next step in the development of the Northaven Trail.

Kevin Sloan Studio, internationally recognized thought leader for rewilded projects, has been commissioned to design a Master Plan for North Dallas’s Northaven Trail that will be beautiful, nature-rich, educational and an environmentally friendly inspiration for community conservation efforts and recreation. The Studio plans to integrate stands of Blackland prairie grasses and wildflowers, with garden sections to specifically attract butterflies, pollinators, hummingbirds, and migrating songbirds, with accents and ornamental places for friends and neighbors to meet and enjoy the trail. The carefully curated landscape of native plants and ornaments will resemble flowing slices of the original North Texas Blackland prairie, punctuated by ornamental gardens.

"Rewilding landscapes with self-sustaining cultures of native plants is an approach to landscape design that is sweeping the world" notes Kevin Sloan, the project designer and founder of Oak Cliff-based Kevin Sloan Studio. "Transforming ornamental landscapes and their extensive maintenance with rewilded landscapes is part of a revolution that is sweeping the world. It's a privilege to be part of shaping its future with the community."

Video of our North Texas Giving Day Campaign

Eastern Expansion Update

On January 23, 2020, City of Dallas Parks Department representatives, along with District 11 City Council Representative Lee Kleinman and District 11 Parks and Recreation Board Representative and Friends of Northaven Trail President Jeff Kitner met with neighbors at the JCC to discuss the plans for Northaven Trail 1C, which will go from the current eastern terminus near Valleydale to the planned ramp at the intersection of Northaven and US75 access road where the planned bridge over US75 will commence. You may view the entire presentation here.

Bridge over US Highway 75 Central Expressway

These are the latest renderings (as of July 2019) of the bridge that will link North Dallas’s Northaven Trail to the White Rock Creek and Cottonwood Trails. These are subject to change.

Western Expansion in the News!

Check out the story Channel 11 did about how the Trail will connect all the way to Love Field!

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EASTWARD EXPANSION OVER US75

Here is an updated view of the Northaven Trail bridge connecting the trail to the White Rock Creek Trail and the Cottonwood Creek Trail.

(subject to change)

Trail Phase 2B and 2C - groundbreaking december 2017

In December 2017, we broke ground on the Western Expansion of the Trail that will begin at Cinderella Lane and go all the way to Denton Drive. The portion that will go from Preston Road (current West termination of the Trail) to Cinderella Lane is expected to break ground in Summer, 2018. Read more about it in this interesting Dallas Morning News story.

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Trail Connection over 75 - NORTHAVEN TRAIL - subject to change

Here are the latest renderings of the bridge over 75 that will connect Northaven Trail to the White Rock Creek and Cottonwood Creek Trails. We'll keep you posted on the progress!