by Lorraine Cherry, Friends of West 11th Street Park The Trail Project at West 11th Street Park has something in common with the Gulf Freeway Reconstruction—it’s never really done. About the time we finish up one part, another part needs attention because of heavy use, rampant growth of underbrush, or (as in the case of Memorial Day weekend) pounding rains.

We walked the major park trail a couple of days after the Memorial Day deluge, and were happy to see that most of the trail held up very well in the rains and was usable a few days after the storm. However, there are a few trouble spots on the main trail that need some work, and the access trail that enters the park next to the kiosk is still in need of construction with compressed crushed granite.

We were very excited to receive a generous donation of $2,500 from the Timbergrove Manor Neighborhood Association “Run the Grove” Fun Run to cover some of the costs of this work. We have also received donations for this project from park users (and of course would welcome any additional donations!) The areas where water still ponds after a very heavy rain (shown on map at right) will need to have additional granite brought in and compressed. The access trail on the east side needs total reconstruction, including grading, layering of materials, and compression. The original trail segments (shown in solid lines in the figure above), now almost 5 years old, are shrinking down due to the encroachment of undergrowth from the sides and need regrading and new granite in many places.   We will be meeting soon with representatives from the Houston Parks Board to see how much we can get done with the funds allocated for this project.