Midland's Trail Plan Is Mostly Still on Paper

If you're a cyclist or a runner who moved to Midland expecting a connected trail system, set your expectations honestly: the city is still building toward one. Its Trails Master Plan lays out where off-street paths should go, linking neighborhoods to schools, parks, restaurants, shopping, and downtown, so you could one day get across town without sharing a lane with oilfield traffic.

The key word is should. The plan names the corridors the city wants for safe, off-street walking and biking, but a lot of it is still lines on a map rather than poured concrete. The good loops you can use right now mostly live inside the big parks: the walking tracks at Hogan, Windlands, and C.J. Kelly are real and open today.

Before you plan a long ride based on the plan map, pull the current-routes layer, not just the master-plan vision. One shows where Midland is headed; the other shows what's actually under your tires this year.