Fayetteville, Arkansas

[wmr]

An option that would not only keep traffic flowing smoothly on North College but would also increase pedestrian safety would be to replace sections of the center turn lane with a median. No doubt a lot of businesses would oppose it at first but by allowing u-turns at left turn signals that opposition could possibly be overcome. The utilities overhead would probably preclude planting trees in the median but small shrubs could be planted. It would certainly be a first step to improving the looks of the road and by preventing drivers from using the center lane as a merging lane plus eliminating some left turns the safety of the road would be greatly improved.

That's a good idea.  I think a good spot for that to work without impacting turn lanes would be the section that runs between Evelyn Hills and the VA.  There aren't any turns between Rick's Bakery and the stoplight at Evelyn Hills.  

 

Even just putting consistent sidewalks along the street will make more infill possible and likely.  Right now its really almost impossible to walk down most of College Ave and feel safe.  There are long stretches with no sidewalks at all, and some that are more or less just wide-topped curbs.  

[wmr]

Here is a video showing the type of pedestrian signaled crossing on S. School for the Frisco Trail.  

[burnz34]

I think Fayetteville should get a P.F Changs.

[zman9810]

Here is a video showing the type of pedestrian signaled crossing on S. School for the Frisco Trail.  

That video illustrates exactly why the S. School crossing is such a mistake. There are 4 lanes of heavy traffic coming to a complete stop for one pedestrian. The traffic congestion caused by that one individual out for a walk is the very reason why at grade crossings are a mistake. To have good traffic flow interrupted in this manner is not good transportation planning and is not safe. How long before a motor vehicle /pedestrian accident happens and a serious injury occurs?

[zman9810]

I had to drive Hwy 71B from downtown Springdale to downtown Fayetteville last Friday afternoon. When I reached the section of Hwy 71B where the road transitions from Springdale to Fayetteville (you know, where the west side is Springdale but the east side is Fayetteville) the traffic was very heavy but flowing freely. The amount of traffic between the two cities is heavy between the 7AM to 6PM hours when most business activity is conducted. This is an indication of how much Fayetteville is integrated into the entire NWA metro- it is not an isolated community that can afford to impede traffic on the primary business traffic route through the metro. Downtown Fayetteville is where the Washington County Courthouse, the Federal Bldg.  and most City of Fayetteville offices are located. It is where many entities that residents of the region depend on are located. Hwy 71B is the primary route used to access these vital resources. To try and turn it into a neighborhood street as suggested would not serve Fayetteville or the region well.

 

To address a couple of concerns expressed- no one is looking to turn 71B into an expressway- it never has been and never will be an interstate highway. It has always been, is now and will always be the primary north- south route through central Fayetteville. With the lack of major east -west routes through central Fayetteville it becomes even more essential that Hwy 71B be kept as free flowing as possible so that the downtown is not isolated from the city residents living out of the central part of town or in other areas of the metro

 

The comment comparing Dickson Street to College Ave. (Hwy 71B) is obviously not serious- Dickson is already a neighborhood street with heavy pedestrian traffic that has always extended from the bottom of Mt Sequoyah to campus only. It is not a thoroughfare.

 

Downtown Fayetteville will never be totally be cutoff from the rest of the city- it is about making the trek there so difficult that resident and visitors are discouraged from accessing the area. Some city leaders seem to think that central Fayetteville is a gem that is only for those who live there or those who are wiling fight their way there. I think we need to keep Fayetteville's heart as accessible and resident and business friendly as possible.

[wmr]

The problem with your reasoning is that you insist that downtown Fayetteville is a small area, maybe 6 square blocks, and everything outside of that area should facilitate easy access to that six square block area.  

 

That is an extremely small town and short-sighted mentality.  Look even to a small city like Little Rock, and the boundaries of what is considered "downtown" is much larger than the area you define as "downtown Fayetteville", and people are fine getting to and from that area to conduct their "downtown" business.   No one would suggest that they shrink it or that the solution to improving downtown is more five-lane thoroughfares getting people there and back at 50 mph.

 

Your belief that others want to "cut off" downtown Fayetteville for selfish reasons is just absurd.  I mean, its outright stupid.  You miss the point entirely.  

 

To your mind, "downtown" consists of six square blocks.  It has always consisted of six square blocks (which isn't true, it used to be strictly "the square"), and it will always consist of six square blocks.

 

I won't debate urban planning with you any further, because its clear that you really have no grasp of the basic concepts.  You also don't have any understanding of why a larger "urban core" might be desirable, as opposed to more sprawl and more strip development.  I and others have attempted to help you come to some understanding of those concepts to no avail.

 

So I'll just drop the pretense and call your posts what they are--stupid and short-sighted.  It is obvious that not only have you never lived in a larger city, you don't have the ability to think constructively about how a city should or shouldn't grow.  If you live somewhere like Springdale, and view attempts at infill development in Fayetteville as attempts to "cut you off" from the court house or some bar you go to once a month, then I hope you can find another town's "downtown area" to spend your time and money in.  For your sake, I hope it is one that offers convenient high speed highway access and isn't any larger than six square blocks.  

Edited May 4, 2014 by wmr

[wmr]

Because apparently I can't help arguing to a brick wall level of intelligence:

 

To your point, proposed infill and traffic calming in central Fayetteville isn't about exclusivity.  It is about the exact opposite.  Creating neighborhoods which encourage MORE people to live in central Fayetteville is the opposite of elitist or selfish.  If anything at all, it is about inclusivity.

 

And as a person who lives in central Fayetteville, I am all for more people living in central Fayetteville.  I honestly couldn't care at all about the convenience of a person living in Springdale or Farmington who only "drives thru" on their way to a football game or a bachelorette party on Dickson.  But that's because I live in Fayetteville, and care about Fayetteville.  I also wouldn't deign to tell other cities how they should or shouldn't develop their central core neighborhoods.  I don't care, because I don't live there.  I live here.

 

It is interesting that someone who doesn't live in Fayetteville would call a Fayetteville alderman or resident "elitist" for daring to have a say in how the city they live in develops, and use the "convenience of Springdale residents driving thru" as an argument against any kind of infill or, god fobid, more stoplights on College.  That is arrogance beyond belief, actually.  Laughable.  

[zman9810]

Wow

 

I'm going to ignore the mean-spirited personal attacks but I will address the points raised.

 

I'm not sure what you're using as a definition of a square block but using by description of downtown from post #3822 "Lets say that downtown is the area bounded by the Hwy 71B corridor on the east, Layfayette on the north ,the university on the west and Center on the south."the downtown area is approx. 1 square mile. My description, by using Center St. as the southern boundary, excludes the Federal Bldg, the Town Center, City Hall, Police Dept, Municipal Courts Bldg, Planning Dept and City Library so it is not a hard and fast description. Those sites are good examples of the type that makes it essential that the downtown area is as accessible as possible.

 

I would imagine that there are people in Little Rock laughing at the comparison of the two downtown areas. Downtown Little Rock is served by a system of 6 lane freeways and even on its northern side with the natural barrier of the Arkansas River it is accessible by several multi-lane bridges. It will be interesting when the Broadway bridge is removed for rebuilding- I think we will see how important accessibility is and what a traffic nightmare the removal of access causes.

 

I will reiterate  my opinion that turning Hwy 71B into a neighborhood street with multiple more traffic lights, pedestrian crossings and trail crossings will serve to create a barrier for those not living downtown to access the area. Because of the unique nature of Fayetteville's topography with Mt. Sequoyah on the east, the University on the west and only neighborhood streets leading to the center of town it would be a mistake to reduce the only thoroughfare to a neighborhood street also.

 

I won't be bullied or shouted down or even goaded into mean-spirited personal attacks myself.

[wmr]

The city agreed to keep the back in parking on Block Ave tonight.  I don't know how I feel about it.  I use it now and then and its not all that bad, IMO.

[TRB]

Well, back up cameras are becoming more and more common and there's chatter that they'll be standard on all new cars in the future.

[wmr]

Yeah I have one on my vehicle so its not a big deal to me.  

[UrbanArkie]

I think whatever keeps the most parking is the best option as well.

[IronScott]

Well, back up cameras are becoming more and more common and there's chatter that they'll be standard on all new cars in the future.

Required by 2018 if this goes through.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2014/03/31/nhtsa-rear-view-cameras/7114531/

[roadrunner8383]

Whole Foods confirmed plans to build in Fayetteville. Fayetteville Flyer has the story.

[zman9810]

Whole Foods confirmed plans to build in Fayetteville. Fayetteville Flyer has the story.

I wish they were being required to build the access to Longview Street and Plainview Avenue in the initial development instead of sometime in the future. A back way into the site would do wonders for traffic flow on College.

[zman9810]

Exciting news- the Mountain Inn property is under contract. Who would have ever thought it would be this quick? Wonder what the plans are? I think for the price we can rule out parking lot/deck or park and almost certainly rule in a multi level structure of some sort.

[wmr]

This may be meaningless, but this sketch appeared in a video about Chris Baribeau of Modus Studios.

 

Seth Mims alluded to a downtown hotel project happening soon during the height restriction debate, anyway I pulled the sketch from the video. It might have just been them playing around with the site.

 

 

Edited May 12, 2014 by wmr

[nickbenso]

I bet it's specialized real estate group buying the old mountain inn property and developing a hotel but thats not a rendering of the design. That sketch is only like 3 floors tall and really small for the lot.

Edited May 12, 2014 by nickbenso

[zman9810]

I think that design would be even more controversial than the RenTower was.

[TRB]

I think that design would be even more controversial than the RenTower was.

Hideous is what it is. There needs to been some historic feel to it given the location, at least the old proposal did that.

[wmr]

I bet it's specialized real estate group buying the old mountain inn property and developing a hotel but thats not a rendering of the design. That sketch is only like 3 floors tall and really small for the lot.

 

Hmm...I think that sketch is more like 17 floors tall, just by counting windows up.  And it was in a video where they super-imposed it over the lot, so it might not be to scale anyway.  Like I said, its probably nothing.  But yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if specialized was the buyer.  Its pretty cheap for downtown land like that. 

[comreguy]

Hmm...I think that sketch is more like 17 floors tall, just by counting windows up.  And it was in a video where they super-imposed it over the lot, so it might not be to scale anyway.  Like I said, its probably nothing.  But yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if specialized was the buyer.  Its pretty cheap for downtown land like that. 

My sources say it isn't Specialized...

[wmr]

My sources say it isn't Specialized...

 

 

Good to hear, I guess.  My guess would be a hotel developer, maybe an Aloft or Marriot.  I have no sources, though.  

[The Hog]

I have heard the purchasers have no plans for the land at this time.  

[bubba72704]

Since everyone is speculating what would be a good fit for that location I guess I'll throw my opinion out there as well.    IMHO I just can't see a hotel surviving in that spot.  The high end market seems pretty well cornered with Carnall Hall and the Pratt Place Inn.  We all know the Cosmopolitan right around the corner has struggled for years and the U of A is intent on building a middle price-point hotel on campus at some point.  

 

If I were the investor, which I'm not, I would build an office building with ground floor restaurant/retail space.  Fill it up with CPAs and lawyers and such, then sit back and watch the area around the square THRIVE. Just my opinion.