Woodway’s Carleen Bright Arboretum is hoping to reopen in November after being closed for three years

WOODWAY, Texas (KWTX) - After being closed for nearly three years, the Carleen Bright Arboretum is looking to reopen its gates to the public in November.

That closure was caused by an $18 million sewer project that involved pipes running directly through the arboretum.

Now that the sewer project is finished, they’ve been at work for about six months to get it to where it is now.

“You can see the ash trees, the magnolia trees. We put in redbud trees, we put in red oak trees,” said Jack Stanley, arboretum superintendent.

The Carleen Bright Arboretum is almost ready to reveal itself to the public.

When completed, the project will cost around $800,000.

Completing many of the projects in-house, the arboretum was able to save money and come in under the original budget of $1.5 million.

“Their vision is, really is blowing me away. I may see woods, but they see past the woods, they see, ‘let’s take this up and add this and this’ and before you know it, it’s like wow,” said Stanley.

The sewer project that led to the arboretum’s closure had pipes running the length of the area, roughly twenty feet in the ground.

The removal of those pipes led to the removal of hundreds of trees and grass.

“When they did, they took out over 200 trees and there was nothing to do about that. The good news is that when we’re all said and done, we’re going to put back over 320 trees,” said Stanley.

To help restore shade to the area, the Texas A&M Forestry service is donating over two hundred trees to the grounds.

With these upgrades, the arboretum hopes people will maximize their time when visiting.

New splash pads, over 700 sq-ft of gardening space, a veteran’s memorial garden, lounging areas and an improved wedding venue are just some of those additions.

“We wanted to have something for everybody, whether you’re one year old or 80 years old. There’s something out here for you, said Stanley.

The 16-acre space is also adding electrical outlets to various areas to encourage people who need to work or study to utilize the space for extended time.

Copyright 2022 KWTX. All rights reserved.