“There really is nothing like it in the world” | A ceremonial ribbon cutting took place on the new surface bridge of the Memorial Park

HOUSTON, Texas. The man-made hills rising 40 feet above Memorial Drive are expected to help people and wildlife easily explore Houston’s largest city park.

“We only started working on this project in August 2020,” he said. Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner. “Look where we are now.”

On Friday, Turner and many others ceremonially cut the ribbon atop the new Kinder Land Bridge in Memorial Park, which overlooks downtown Houston in one direction and the outskirts of Houston in the other.

“What we have built here today and are dedicating today will serve and benefit all Houstonians for decades to come,” said donor Rich Kinder.

A generous donation from the Kinder Foundation has helped accelerate a $70 million project that includes adjacent pastures. All of this is intended to create new habitats, increase biodiversity and improve storm water management.

“I wondered when this was first in the plan, whether it would actually happen during my tenure or in my lifetime,” Memorial Park Conservancy CEO Shelley Arnold said. “And it happened.”

The landscape architect, whose firm designed the park’s master plan and land bridge, called it the highlight of his career and a benchmark for other cities to emulate.

“I think it’s a new hybrid of how we can create public infrastructure projects for people with people who have many different goals,” said Thomas Woltz of Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects. And do it beautifully.

Memorial Park will host the “Biggest Picnic in Texas” Saturday, celebrating the official grand opening of the Kinder Land Bridge and Cyvia and Melvyn Wolff Prairie.

The community is invited to come and experience the new 100-acre space at a free event running from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm.

Click here for more details about the event.

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