The recovery of a man’s body from Bachman Lake has raised questions about the status of a project meant to improve the area’s safety and quality of life.
Dallas Fire-Rescue received a report May 10 that the man had gone into the lake near the 9300 block of Webb Chapel Road behind a Whataburger restaurant between Northwest Highway and Shorecrest Drive and hadn’t resurfaced, spokesman Jason Evans said.
Dallas police say the body was later found nearby.
A long-awaited trailhead project from QuikTrip would improve safety and security by adding lighting and bar barriers along the pathway that goes under the bridge from Lemmon Avenue. But that venture, which was approved by the Dallas City Council in 2018, has yet to break ground.
More than seven years later, a QuikTrip spokesperson says the company remains committed to the project and expects construction to start “in the near term.”
When QuikTrip’s plans were approved in 2018, they included parking with driveway access and lighting, a public access trail connection to the Bachman Lake Hike and Bike Trail, a pavilion, signage, seating, trash receptacles, landscaping, and irrigation, according to city meeting records.
Ryan Moore, President of Friends of Bachman Lake, said he’s hopeful the trailhead project will start soon. In addition to improving safety, the project would give visitors more opportunities to enjoy precious greenspace.
“Ultimately what we hope to see over on the Bachman Creek greenbelt side is a transformation of this space (into) a fully designed Texas native arboretum,” he said. “It has all of the building blocks; it just needs a little bit of dedicated advocacy.”
The Friends of Bachman Lake, for their part, have been working on clearing densely packed privet to make the trails more usable.
“Back in 2021 is when the Friends group started working with some other nonprofits and outdoor restoration groups and they carved out the first mile of nature trail,” Moore said. “That was the first time that you could really navigate throughout the greenbelt.”
