Memorial Park is a 1,464-acre park — one of the largest in the United States and the largest urban wilderness area in Houston. In 1955, the six-lane Memorial Drive was built, dissecting the park into two and making it difficult, if not impossible, for pedestrians to traverse the park, decreasing ecological resiliency, and disrupting habitats and migration for dozens of species. Now, 67 years later, the Land Bridge & Prairie reconnects the long-divided park.
The design embodies the guiding values set forth by the 2015 Memorial Park Master Plan, created by the Landscape Architect and informed by more than 3,000 Houstonians. As a key project within the Ten-Year Plan, the Land Bridge & Prairie accelerates the development of significant projects within the Master Plan and opened to the public in January of 2023.
The Land Bridge & Prairie and Memorial Park itself are at the center of the most ethnically diverse metropolitan area in the U.S., with a robust healthcare and research economy and a regional hotspot for ecological biodiversity. Situated in the heart of a Memorial Park, the project creates a new public use space within the rich cultural and ecological Gulf Coast context and offers varied and enjoyable experiences that enhance the urban wilderness character of Memorial Park while providing opportunities for active and passive recreation for all Houstonians. Families, students, tourists, and nature enthusiasts can learn more about the native ecologies in immersive experiences of native plants and wildlife through artfully designed bird blinds, overlooks, and trail systems. Carefully planned trails accommodate multiple levels of recreational pursuit for all abilities, from winding, accessible paths for leisurely strolls along the Prairie to hills and scrambles for rigorous interval work by runners and cyclists. New vantage points of downtown and uptown Houston skylines on top of the Land Bridge provide an iconic gathering place for sunrise meditation, evening stargazing, and special events.
The Coastal Prairie is one of the most endangered ecosystems in North America, with less than 1% of its historic range remaining today. The Land Bridge & Prairie creates over 45 acres of native Coastal Prairie in the center of Memorial Park, helping to strengthen the surrounding ecologies and bring Houstonians an immersive opportunity to experience and appreciate this critical ecology. As the Prairie continues to establish, it will become home to numerous significant and endangered species of flora and fauna and provide essential food and shelter for migratory birds and insects. It will provide cumulative benefits for generations. The landscape is designed to withstand storms and process stormwater while providing a healthy environment for people and animals. Soils and over 200 native species of trees, shrubs, and deep-rooted Coastal Prairie plants have been selected for resiliency and their ability to slow and store stormwater in carefully calibrated channels and wetlands. This soil-deep rehabilitated ecology sequesters atmospheric carbon, provides cleaner air, and improves animal and insect habitat.
The Land Bridge itself creates two expansive and dynamic connections over Memorial Drive that reunite the north and south sides of Memorial Park while growing the existing network of trail systems and providing increased connectivity throughout. Two massive tunnels have been built side by side over the Memorial Drive roadway. In early 2022, Memorial Drive shifted into a new alignment, and traffic now flows through the tunnels. Portions of the re-routed Memorial Drive roadway were preserved and utilized to construct a scramble that ascends the north side of the east mound — a design choice that diverts additional waste from local landfills and repurposes material to create an innovative recreational feature. Over half a million cubic yards of soil were harvested and reserved from other park sites and within the project boundary and were used to cover the tunnels and create the mounds of the Land Bridge. This new parkland symbolizes the triumph of “green” over “gray,” healing the divide created by the construction of Memorial Drive.
The engineering and construction required an extensive coordination effort across disciplines: landscape architects, civil engineers, structural engineers, scientists, fluvial geomorphologists, prairie experts, and biologists. It is the largest land bridge in Texas and, unlike others of its kind in the U.S., the project includes an important hydrological component. A constructed stream bed integrates stormwater management and water quality treatment, as well as functioning as a “habitat” bridge, connecting both flora and fauna over and under the six lanes of Memorial Drive. The project is not just a physical link like most other land bridges; it is a community nexus where complex and multifaceted systems — both human and natural — have been holistically conceived as part of a greater vision.
Other landscape architecture offices involved in the design of landscape: White Oak
Architecture offices involved in the design: METALAB
Location: 7575 North Picnic Lane, Houston TX 77007, USA
Design year: 2017
Year Completed: 2023
