Cotton Belt Trail Corridor
The Cotton Belt Trail is a regionally significant corridor planned to extend from Fort Worth to Plano. The trail corridor generally follows a portion of the TEXRail commuter rail in Tarrant County and the Silver Line commuter rail corridor in Dallas County and Collin County. The trail corridor links several key destinations and municipalities including two planned transit-oriented developments in North Richland Hills, Downtown Grapevine, Old Town Coppell, Cypress Waters in Dallas, Downtown Carrollton, Addison Circle, CityLine in Richardson, and Downtown Plano. The Cotton Belt Trail is identified as a Cross-State Spine in the Texas Department of Transportations' Bicycle Tourism Trails Study of statewide bicycle routes. Cross-State Spines are of statewide significance which connect to other states, link major urban areas, and may be candidates for United States Bicycle Routes System (USBRS) designation.
The Cotton Belt Trail corridor intersects with three other trails of both regional and statewide significance, including the DFW Discovery Trail, the Dallas to McKinney Regional Trail and the Denton to Dallas Regional Trail. The corridor alignment is approximately 51 miles from Shiloh Station in Plano to a future connection with the Trinity Trails in Fort Worth (just east of the Fort Worth Stockyards), with approximately 19.1 miles of the corridor currently constructed and an additional 16 miles funded for construction. Additional funding is needed to complete construction of the remaining 15.9 miles.
Cotton Belt Trail Corridor Map - Plano to Fort Worth (updated April 2026)
Cotton Belt Trail Location Map - Plano to Fort Worth (updated February 2026)
Cotton Belt Trail – DFW Airport to Plano
In 2018, the Regional Transportation Council (RTC) approved funding for engineering design of the trail from DFW Airport to Shiloh Road in Plano which is now complete.
Phase 1 construction consisting of several Cotton Belt Trail bridges was completed concurrently with the DART Silver Line rail project. Phase 2 construction was initiated in mid-2025 by a DART contractor for an additional 11 miles of trail and bridge segments from Addison to Plano. The Phase 2 construction is supported by a $25 million funding award in 2023 from the US Department of Transportation (USDOT) Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) discretionary grant program and a $25 million funding award in June 2023 by the Texas Transportation Commission, the governing body for the Texas Department of Transportation. Phase 2 construction is anticipated to be complete by 2027.
Subsequently, in November 2025 the Texas Transportation Commission awarded an additional $25 million to DART for Phase 3A construction of 4.4 miles of the Trail, providing direct access to the Cypress Waters (Dallas), Addison, and Downtown Carrollton stations. Phase 3A construction is anticipated to begin in 2027. The remaining portions of Phase 3 in Carrollton, Coppell, and Grapevine require additional funding for construction.
History of the St. Louis Southwestern Railway
The regional trail is primarily located along the rail line originally operated by the St. Louis Southwestern Railway, beginning in 1877 for the purpose of transporting cotton and passengers between North Central Texas to St. Louis, Missouri. Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) purchased the rail right-of-way in 1990 for use as passenger rail service.
Trinity Metro TEXRail and the DART Silver Line currently operate commuter rail service along the corridor, from Fort Worth to Plano.
The Texas Transportation Archive provides more information about the former railroad: 80 Years of Transportation Progress: A History of the St. Louis Southwestern Railway (Cotton Belt Public Relations Department, 1957)
Staff Contact: Kevin Kokes