Cotton Belt Trail Corridor 

The Cotton Belt Trail will be a new regional trail which provides a connection between Plano and Fort Worth. The trail corridor generally follows a portion of the TEXRail commuter rail in Tarrant County as well as the DART Silver Line rail corridor in Dallas County and Collin County. Along the way the corridor links several key destinations and municipalities such as Downtown Grapevine, Old Town Coppell, Cypress Waters in Dallas, Downtown Carrollton, Addison Circle, UT Dallas and CityLine in Richardson, and Downtown Plano.

The total mileage of the corridor from Shiloh Station in Plano to the intersection with the DFW Discovery Trail (just west of Handley Ederville Rd. in Fort Worth) is approximately 57 miles. Concurrent with the DART Silver Line implementation, the City of Richardson and other communities along the corridor have partnered with the North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG) and DART to advance design and construction of the trail from DFW Airport to Plano. Additional information can be found on NCTCOG's webpage here.

Trail Implementation - DFW Airport to Plano

On October 11, 2018, NCTCOG's Regional Transportation Council (RTC) approved funding for engineering design of the trail from DFW Airport to Shiloh Road in Plano which is now complete. 

Currently portions of the trail corridor exist, such as a section of Spring Creek Trail in Richardson will serve as part of the Cotton Belt Regional Trail. Implementation of the remaining sections of trail are split into three phases:

• Phase 1 (Complete): Construction consisting of several Cotton Belt Trail bridges was completed concurrently with the Silver Line rail project.
• Phase 2 (Current Construction): DART began construction in Spring 2025 for than 11 miles of additional trail and bridge segments from Addison to Plano. This phase constructs continuous trail through Richardson with a construction cost over $24 million which is funded primarily through various federal funding awards.
• Phase 3 (Future): Trail construction along the Silver Line commuter rail will complete the trail in Dallas and Addison and continue westward, occurring in the future once additional funding is secured. An additional 4.11 miles of planned trail alignment located outside of the rail right-of-way in Carrollton and Coppell will connect with the Cotton Belt Trail to form a continuous trail alignment between those cities.

The map below outlines sections of trail funded within each phase as of October 2025, including anticipated timelines on sections of Phase 3.

Richardson Construction Updates

Construction on the Cotton Belt Trail in Richardson began in May 2025. The table below reflects construction activity from the most recent project newsletter. The latest and past newsletters are available at the bottom of this page. A link to view construction photos is available in each newsletter to see progress along the corridor.

Note: Completion dates shown are estimated construction end dates and do not indicate when segments will open to the public. Dates are also subject to change as construction advances.

Newsletter Updates

March 2026 Newsletter

February 2026 Newsletter

January 2026 Newsletter

December 2025 Newsletter