Cotton Belt Trail Corridor

This highlighted regional trail corridor provides a connection between Plano and Fort Worth. The trail corridor generally follows a portion of the planned TEXRail commuter rail project in Tarrant County as well as the Cotton Belt rail corridor in Dallas County and Collin County. Along the way the corridor links several key destinations and municipalities such as two planned Transit-Oriented Developments (TOD) in North Richland Hills, Downtown Grapevine, Old Town Coppell, Cypress Waters in Dallas, Downtown Carrollton, Addison Town Center, CityLine in Richardson, and Downtown Plano.

This regional trail corridor will intersect with three other regional trails including the Fort Worth to Dallas regional trail, the Dallas to McKinney regional trail and the Denton to Dallas regional trail. The total mileage of the corridor from Downtown Plano to the intersection with the Fort Worth to Dallas Regional Trail (just west of Handley Ederville Rd. in Fort Worth) is approximately 56.5 miles.  Approximately 21.3 miles of the Cotton Belt regional trail corridor exist; 20.4 miles are funded for construction; and 14.8 miles need funding for construction.

Cotton Belt Trail Corridor Map - Plano to Fort Worth  (updated January 2022)
Cotton Belt Trail Location Map - Plano to Fort Worth  (updated January 2022)

Cotton Belt Trail – DFW Airport to Plano
On October 11, 2018, the Regional Transportation Council (RTC) approved funding for construction design of the trail from DFW Airport to Shiloh Road in Plano (approximately 26 miles).  Currently 1.8 miles of the trail corridor are existing or under construction, with 21.76 miles of the trail funded for construction as part of the Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) Cotton Belt commuter rail project.  This trail project construction will be funded by a variety of sources approved by the RTC, Dallas County, and the local communities in the corridor.  DART will manage the trail design and construction with both the commuter rail and trail projects.

Map of Cotton Belt Trail Funding Status (updated per RTC Action June 13, 2019)
DART Cotton Belt Commuter Rail Project

Media

Coppell Gazette:  Regional Transportation Council commits $8.2 million to Cotton Belt Regional Trail  (October 22, 2018)