DALLAS — A week after Mayor Eric Johnson officially launched the Dallas Parks Coalition, a community effort to make Dallas greener, the city was awarded a RAISE grant worth $6.4 million for the Five Mile Creek Greenbelt project.

With this project, Dallas has plans to develop new trails and three signature parks that would canvas about 17 miles. Johnson said more than 186,000 southern Dallas residents will be connected to a trail or green space.

The city said that 73% of its residents are within reasonable walking distance to a park or trail. But they’d like to enhance that percentage and make green spaces accessible all around Dallas.

Having a coalition dedicated to bettering Dallas’ park system will help the city toward accessibility, equitability and sustainability.

Dallas has one of the largest park systems in the U.S. However, the city wants to rise to the top as the best park system nationwide. 

The ceremony can be watched on Facebook.