If you start at Cattail Lake and head south toward Bozeman Pond Park on foot, how far do you get before you have to guess where to go next? Most of the way, it turns out. The paths, bridges and creekside lawns are already there. What the route has never had is a name, signs, and safe crossings at the streets that cut through it.
That changed on paper on September 15, 2026. The Bozeman City Commission voted 5–0 to adopt the Cattail Creek Corridor and Anchor Route Park Master Plan. It turns a chain of neighborhood parks into a north-south trail running from East Valley Center Road to Gallatin Valley Mall. The city's own pages give the length as 3.25 miles in one place and 3.5 miles in another. Most of the plan labels and connects ground people walk now. Very little of it is new trail.
A trail that exists in pieces
Before drawing anything, the city's consultants counted what was already in the corridor. They found 11 bridges, 13 benches, two basketball courts and one playground, mostly set in flexible lawn with walking and biking paths and wayfinding the plan calls "inconsistent." Those 11 bridges are the important number. The hardest part of a creek trail is getting across the creek, and that part is largely done.
The weak spot is width. Only the Cattail Lake section has paths that meet the plan's 10-foot minimum. Elsewhere the paths are too narrow or missing, and in some tight spots the plan sends the route onto streets as on-street connections or bike boulevards.
Funding matches that modest scope. The city has committed $1.1 million over three years. The first $500,000 comes from the Park Land Trust in fiscal year 2026, and the other $600,000 comes from Parks and Trails District assessments in fiscal years 2027 and 2028. The Park Land Trust is mostly made up of payments developers make to meet the city's parkland requirements. In practice, west-side growth is paying to connect west-side parks.
Walking it north to south, as of this week
The plan divides the corridor into four sections. Here is what you will find in each one today.
- Cattail Lake and the Cattail Creek subdivision parks. Cattail Lake is the one stretch where paths already meet the 10-foot standard. In the Cattail Creek subdivision parks, the existing path will need widening, and native vegetation is already coming in along the creek. The plan adds a picnic and pavilion spot near Warbler Way and Catamount Street, an outdoor exercise and sports area near Sundew Lane, and shade, restrooms and drinking fountains near the courts at Cattail Street. At the adoption hearing, staff said pickleball "is not a part of the plan for the corridor, and it never was," because the corridor is too narrow and lacks the access a facility that popular needs.
- The gap down to Baxter Lane. Between the Cattail Creek subdivision and Baxter Lane, the corridor runs through undeveloped land the city does not own yet. It needs parkland dedication or trail easements before a path can go in, and the planned crossing of Baxter is at Hunters Way. Until then, the detour is North 27th Avenue. That project includes a signal at Baxter, a roundabout at Cattail Street, and shared-use paths on both sides from Baxter to Cattail. The city's street report for the week of October 18 still listed North 27th as under construction and scheduled a 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. closure of the Cattail roundabout on Tuesday, October 20, for streetlight work, with detours via Max Avenue and Catron Street. Staff told the commission the school district is "very interested" in an easement through this stretch as a safe route to school.
- West Winds and Harvest Creek. The Harvest Creek linear parks already have gravel-fines trails, bridge crossings, mature trees and irrigated lawn. To keep heading south, cross Oak Street at Hunters Way. That is the crossing the plan chose, and it leads to the Harvest Creek trailhead and an on-street connection to Monkey Park.
- Durston to the mall and Bozeman Pond Park. This is the tightest section. The plan says a full-width path with the preferred creek setbacks can't be built in many places here, so it combines an anchor path, bike boulevards and shared paths. Parts of the site map near Babcock Street are labeled "NO PATH FEASIBLE." The southern end is still the strongest finish on the west side. The city lists Bozeman Pond Park with a fishing pond, a half-mile paved shared-use path, year-round restrooms, a climbing boulder, volleyball and basketball, the fenced Lewis and Bark dog park, and a fenced Canine Beach for dogs that swim.
Why West Winds gets the first dollars
If the corridor mostly exists, the city still had to decide where to start building. It chose the middle, in West Winds. That is where the Cattail route crosses the Raptor Route, the east-west trail chain Gallatin Valley Land Trust has described as running from the Gallatin River near Four Corners to the M Trailhead. KBZK's 2024 report put its eventual reach from The Lakes subdivision to the M and Drinking Horse trails.
The plan calls that intersection important enough to draw a more detailed concept for West Winds than for any other section. It proposes a bike roundabout where the two routes meet to steer riders and walkers in each direction. Sidewalk widening to the east was already underway with the city's Transportation Division, and a new bridge to the west has been installed with GVLT. Money is the other reason. In the commission's discussion, staff said much of the cash-in-lieu funding already in the budget came from development near West Winds and Harvest Creek:
"So it's where we will start to invest first."
The West Winds concept includes a neighborhood dog park, an outdoor exercise station, a redesigned playground, picnic groves, creative seating, gardens, flexible turf and multipurpose courts. Seating and gardens follow a design package from a Girls Park workshop. Staff told the commission that workshop responded to a gap in park use among teen and tween girls. The plan also adds a traffic-calmed midblock crossing on Tradewind Lane and safety redesigns at the existing Tschache Lane and Breeze Lane crossings. The city's September 21 update says neighbor engagement with the West Winds HOA, plus revegetation and trail work near Greenway Park, begin in 2027. Staff also told the commission there will be more neighborhood input before construction drawings are final.
Signs first, then crossings, then the gap
Wayfinding is what connects the pieces, and it comes before most construction. On October 20 the commission agenda included an amendment to the city's contract with Beartooth Signs & Design for the first six kiosks on the Raptor and Cattail routes. The contract would rise from $42,540.00 to $64,020.30. Part of that increase corrects an original agreement that priced installation for one kiosk instead of six. Two of the six kiosk sites are the ends of this corridor, Cattail Lake Park and Bozeman Pond Park. The other four are the M Trail, Story Mill Community Park, Glen Lake Rotary Park and the Bozeman Sports Park.
| What | Where | City's stated timing |
|---|---|---|
| Main wayfinding kiosks | Cattail Lake Park and Bozeman Pond Park ends | "this year," per staff at adoption |
| Signage linking the route | Full corridor | 2027 |
| West Winds site work, Greenway Park trail work | Section 3 | Neighbor engagement starting 2027 |
| Street crossings | Each subdivision crossing | Phased in with each trail segment |
| Full trail | Cattail Lake to Gallatin Valley Mall | 2030 at the earliest |
The crossings will matter most to anyone walking the whole route. In the words staff used at the hearing, if you "thread a needle down this trail, you are going to pick up a lot of street crossings in each subdivision." The city's new standard treatment is a raised crossing, with curb bump-outs as another option. The plan pairs those with ecological work too. Gallatin Watershed Council's Branch Out Bozeman program will plant native plugs along the corridor. The city will also mow less and pull back mow lines so native vegetation can fill in.
One nearby project will change how people reach the southern half. The city awarded Phase 1 of the Fowler Avenue Connection, from Oak Street to Durston, to CK May in September, with construction expected to start this fall. A public meeting will follow once a work schedule is proposed. The city's July update says all Phase 1 portions, including side-street connections, stay closed to traffic until the Fowler and Durston roundabout is finished. That roundabout is part of Phase 2, planned for summer 2027.
Until the kiosks go up, the route stays where it has always been, on paths that cross 11 bridges between Cattail Lake and the Canine Beach at Bozeman Pond.
Our team follows west Bozeman down to the block, including which streets back onto Harvest Creek, which West Winds lots sit beside the planned Raptor crossing, and where the North 27th detour runs. If you're thinking about how trail access could affect a home you own or plan to buy, Mikey Duquette and Bert can walk the route with you and talk through what the master plan means for that part of the west side. Contact us to start your home search or request a free home valuation.
