Caution Kids and Watch out for Pedestrians Signs

School zone pedestrian crossing ahead sign

10 MPH Speed Limit on Hike and Bike Trail

Terry Hershey Park and Trail ... and the Person

Photo of Terry Hershey, for whom the park
and trail is named

Both the Park (located north of Memorial Drive) and the trail system alongside both banks of Langham Creek and Buffalo Bayou are named after Terry Hershey, to honor her contributions to the preservation of this natural resource for the continued enjoyment by Houstonians and visitors. Both components (the contiguous park in the narrower sense, and the trails along the water-courses), are collectively referred to as Terry Hershey Park, which is somewhat confusing. The term "linear park" can also be found, which is a misnomer even for the hike-and-bike trail, for it is by no means straight. Anything but. It meanders, and the segment North of Memorial is actually a loop if you include the Memorial Drive road bridge over Langham Creek. 

The park North of Memorial Drive near the BP Office Tower (an area landmark with perennial circling vultures) features a playground, a kid-fit exercise area, pavilions, and amenities such restrooms with running water, and drinking water fountain). 

Pavilion at Terry Hershey Park

Poster board for announcements - also has photo of Terry Hershey

A special attraction -- not to mention one of educational value -- is the ground-level sun dial that uses the shadow of the person wanting to know the time as a clock hand, with seasonal adjustments made for the month of the year.  Click the link in the preceding sentence if you want to know what such a sun clock is called. (The term would qualify for a spelling bee contest). 

Water fowl can be seen at Hershey Park throughout the year. In winter, large numbers of black-bellied whistling ducks can be observed at and on the pond that is part of the adjoining Exxon Chemical corporate campus to the West of the park (the corporate campus is not open to the public). There may be even more now since Skanska went ahead with its plan to drain the retention pond on the property across Memorial to the South, which it is re-developing for office use. 

The Terry Hershey trail system is designated "multi-use" and includes many ped-bike bridges along the way over Langham Creek, Buffalo Bayou, and tributaries/drainage channels. One of the pedestrians truss bridges is named for Jake Hershey, Terry's late husband, who was also a benefactor and nature and wildlife preservation activist. A big patch of blue bonnets on a slope closeby comes to bloom there every spring (in case you can't find the time to head out to Brenham to enjoy vistas of seas of Texas' official state flower the American way -- drive-by style). 

  

Caution is advised along the paved trails because of the "mixed use", i.e. the presence of both pedestrians and bicyclists. There is a posted speed limit for bikers (10 mph when passing), but it is routinely ignored. Some bikers do not use lights in the dark and pedestrians seldom do, if ever.   

A map of the trail system is posted at various locations, but Google Maps and Satellite view is more useful and convenient these days.

Corner of Enclave and Eldridge Parkway - Cafe Express opening and more office construction ahead

The new Café Express is located at the South-East corner of the intersection of Enclave Parkway and Eldridge Parkway. This area has recently seen the completion of sidewalks on both sides of Enclave Parkway that connect the corporate campuses that line the Parkway to the Terry Hershey hike and bike system, which runs alongside the banks of Buffalo Bayou and Langham Creek. The project is  meant to enhance walkability and bikeability for area-employees and residents. It forms part of the forward-looking mobility concept for the Energy Corridor District - an area that is poised to experience significant growth in the near future - and the West Houston area more broadly.

Bench with Terry Hershey Bike & Hike Trail System Map North of corner of Eldridge Parkway and Enclave Parkway
Blue signage of Cafe Express visible on the building in the background

The signalized Eldridge-Enclave intersection has crossing lights for pedestrians with coordinated sound-track that issues walk-and-wait commands; which could be particularly useful for the vision-impaired, while it may annoy others.

Located across the street are a Holiday Inn with an inhouse restaurant and bar, a Capital One Bank branch, and several other restaurants, among them newly-opened Sharky’s Grill, a Japanese sushi restaurant. There is also a sandwich shop.

Within the shopping center East of Eldridge Parkway Café Express has the Houston Barbecue Company, Achille Italian Café, and Beans Café as neighbors. There are also a few other business in the shopping center, including a tavern, a realtor’s office, and a dentist.  

   

To the North, the red KBR logo prominently appears on top of a Class A office building of recent vintage that towers over Buffalo Bayou and the adjoining riparian parkland.  

The office property is named Eldridge Oaks One, and is awaiting its Number Two namesake, to be built on what is currently green space with a few trees in the NW corner of the intersection. The parcel still has a Transwestern project sign touting the attributes of the first stage Class-A Eldridge Oak office building, which saw completion in 2009.

Nov 11, 2012 Update: The Transwestern project sign has since been replaced with one providing information on the next office tower (Eldridge Oaks Phase II) to be constructed on the empty lot, which should be completed by 2014.

Walkability improvements in Energy Corridor - North segment of Enclave Pkwy gets sidwalk

Walkability & Bikability get boost with sidewalk construction projects nearing completion on Enclave Parkway in Houston's Energy Corridor

  

Following completion of a sidewalk construction project in the mostly residential segment of Enclave Parkway South of Briar Forest Drive last year (2011), work is now continuing this summer on infrastructure improvement to facilitate walking and biking in the section from Briar Forest North to Eldridge Parkway, which is lined by large commercial office properties (not only energy companies), but also by acres of still undeveloped land with a nice stand of trees, giving the corporate presence a park-like feel.

The new paved (poured concrete) sidewalk will complete the connection to the Terry Hershey Hike & Bike system at the KBR office property near the Eldridge Parkway bridge over Buffalo Bayou. 

There is already a separate pedestrian/bike bridge on the East side of the two-span Buffalo Bayou bridge for motor vehicle traffic. A restroom facility with running water and hand dryer serves strollers, hikers, and bikers at an unmarked building North of the trail. It also features a drinking fountain outside. On the other side of Eldridge there is an open-air “runner’s shower”, although no one seems to ever use it. The doggie drinking fountain, by contrast, is much more popular.

Here are a few pics from the road work near 1200 Enclave Parkway, a large commercial office building, most of which was recently leased by Schlumberger, a company that already had a corporate presence nearby -- albeit not Class A like this one -- on Dairy Ashford Drive.

Sidewalk extension work under way near corporate park with fountain
(and lots of ducks) in the northern segment of Enclave Parkway
between Parkway Plaza Drive and intersection with Eldridge Parkway

A pair of ducks chattering at the existing sidewalk near the fountain

Corporate Park with lake and fountain on Enclave Parkway

The ducks are already quite accustomed to passers-by and line up to greet them
(more likely expecting to be fed)

Schlumberger's new address on Enclave Parkway - one of the large-company corporate tenants
with long-terms lease for lots of square footage of top-notch office space in this bucolic part of West Houston. No cattle anywhere to be seen, though, not to mention longhorns (but you can drive up North a few miles and gaze at some real Texas longhorn cattle at the Houston Farm & Ranch at Abercrombie Drive off  Patterson Road inside Addicks Reservoir if you are lucky)

Texas Longhorn in Bear Creek Pioneers Park
Houston Farm & Ranch / County Agricultural Extension Office