The red lines show the planned Loop trails. Map courtesy of the Circuit Trail Conservancy.

With the donation of 110 acres of land in southeast Dallas, the Circuit Trail Conservancy can complete the Trinity Forest Spine Trail and The Loop.

Oncor made the donation, which includes Parkdale Lake, marking the largest land commitment for the Dallas Park system since 1937. The company, which has owned the property since 2010, started the process of donating the lake and surrounding land west of White Rock Creek to the City of Dallas in 2020.

Parkdale Lake is important for the Trinity Forest Spine Trail, a nine-mile connection from White Rock Lake to the Great Trinity Forest, because it will help manage runoff and prevent flooding. Most of this trail lies within the White Rock Creek floodplain.

When finished, The Loop will have 50 miles of trails connecting much of Dallas. One recent milestone was breaking ground on the north phase of the Trinity Forest Spine Trail near Samuell-Grand Park.

“We know there is an infrastructure disparity between North and South Dallas that has left neighborhoods — like Parkdale — without dedicated, safe pedestrian connections to surrounding neighborhoods or the rest of Dallas. Completing The Loop is a step in the right direction toward connecting and uniting Dallas,” Philip Hiatt Haigh, the executive director of the CTC, said in a news release.

The lake was built in 1953 as a water storage site for the Parkdale Steam Electric Station, decommissioned in 2005. From the 1930s into the 1950s, the area was farmland.

“The donation of Parkdale Lake and the surrounding areas is huge for Dallas,” Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson said in the release. “It will create new recreational opportunities and help us connect our neighborhoods through our trail system.”

See aerial footage of the area in the video below.