A new project is closing the gaps in one of Houston’s popular bike trails.

The White Oak Bayou Trail runs from far northwest Houston all the way to downtown. It's a distance of about 15 miles.

Now some people living near the trail are getting better access as the city starts building three new paths that will connect neighborhoods to the trail.

One connector will link the trail with the Castillo Community Center in the Northside neighborhood. Another will take bike riders to the intersection of Main and Wood Streets, just north of downtown. A third connector will link the University of Houston-Downtown campus.

Joe Turner with the Parks and Recreation Department says the problem is that a lot of Houston's trails were built in pieces over time, before there was any demand for a continuous bike network. He says the new connectors will make it a more practical system.

"It allows us to connect up back into the neighborhoods, which we've never been able to put that piece together," Turner says. "But what it does, it completes this trail system, finally."

Mayor Sylvester Turner says with more connections, people can really start using the bike trail system to get where they need to go.

"This is another step in changing the paradigm where we're offering people more options than just their car," the mayor adds.

The work on the three new paths should cost about $3.5 million. It's part of a bigger $30 million project that the federal government is helping to fund.

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