Popular road at Benbrook Lake to stay open to cyclists due to ‘passionate’ community effort
Plans to close a popular 2-and-a-half mile road at Benbrook Lake to bicycle and pedestrian traffic have been suspended, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said Saturday.
The closure was scheduled for Jan. 1, 2024, and would have prevented day-use cyclists, walkers and joggers from bypassing the barrier between the the North Holiday Park day-use area and the South Holiday Park campgrounds.
Stefan Flores, the Corps’ Benbrook Lake manager, said the decision to pause the closure was due to “passionate disagreement” from the community.
““It was just a really great opportunity for me ... just to see the power of the public and see how passionate they are about our resource,” Flores said at a Saturday morning news conference.
The announcement that the road would remain open was greeted by enthusiastic cheers from the more than 40 cyclists who gathered by the lake in North Holiday Park, ready to hit the trail afterward.
The Corps announced their plan to close the road in July, citing frequent safety infractions from cyclists. At that time, large groups of cyclists traveling at high speeds were causing tension with visitors in the campground area.
Even though a national policy separates day-use activities from campgrounds, it had never been enforced. An informal agreement allowed cyclists, joggers and walkers to use the road in the campground area as long as they followed a list of rules.
A petition asking the Corps to keep the road open gathered more than 1,800 signatures, and members of the cycling community promised to address the safety issues.
Randy Cephus, a Corps spokesperson, told the Star-Telegram that things started to improve after the closure was announced, and eventually the infractions became “nonexistent.”
Former Fort Worth mayor and avid cyclist Betsy Price said a small group of individuals working together were able to turn things around.
“Thank you all for volunteering to police yourself, to come together, for letting your voices be heard,” she said.
Flores said a working committee has been meeting to establish short-term and long-term goals for the area.
According to a Corps press release, plans are in the works to make a wider road through both parks with protected bike and walking paths. In the meantime, visitors can expect to see more signage indicating areas that are off-limits to large groups of cyclists.
“We got to this mark through a lot of hard work and collaboration through a lot of different partners,” Flores said.
