Razorback Greenway and other NWA Trail Systems

[zman9810]

Lately they've done a little cleaning up and re-striping the Scull Creek Trail. As far as the Fulbright Tunnel, I think everyone would like to make some sort of changes, including the city. But their hands are tied. The AHTD gives the city permission to use the tunnel but they can't make anymore changes. It's basically a take it as is or leave it situation.

Yeah, I realize that the highway department controls it but that concrete is probably a foot thick- surely another inch scraped off wouldn't harm anything. It would be great if a concrete wall could be added at the Van Asche bridge to prevent water over the trail.

I realize that any improvements to the present trail system is asking for a lot at this time but they should be looked at as preventing long term maintenance needs. If the trail system is grow at all the current network needs to be made as maintenance free as possible.

I don't think that the trails can realisticaliy be looked at as a major component of Fayetteville's transportation network if the costs outweigh their verifiable benefits. I think the trail system is one of the great amenities of the city and I use it regularly but it will never take the place of the convenience and comfort of the personal motor vehicle. As technology increases the effciency of personal motor vehicles it will be even harder to promote the doing away with them. Our motor vehicle road network and the investment already made in it will always be more important than any alternative transportation options. Until traffic congestion and parking problems and the resulting forced changes in land use policies dictate a need for improved mass transit options most funding will be directed towards road improvements. We will never go to a bicycle-only oriented society regardless of the enthusiasm of the bicycling proponents.

[Mith242]

Yeah, I realize that the highway department controls it but that concrete is probably a foot thick- surely another inch scraped off wouldn't harm anything. It would be great if a concrete wall could be added at the Van Asche bridge to prevent water over the trail.

I realize that any improvements to the present trail system is asking for a lot at this time but they should be looked at as preventing long term maintenance needs. If the trail system is grow at all the current network needs to be made as maintenance free as possible.

I don't think that the trails can realisticaliy be looked at as a major component of Fayetteville's transportation network if the costs outweigh their verifiable benefits. I think the trail system is one of the great amenities of the city and I use it regularly but it will never take the place of the convenience and comfort of the personal motor vehicle. As technology increases the effciency of personal motor vehicles it will be even harder to promote the doing away with them. Our motor vehicle road network and the investment already made in it will always be more important than any alternative transportation options. Until traffic congestion and parking problems and the resulting forced changes in land use policies dictate a need for improved mass transit options most funding will be directed towards road improvements. We will never go to a bicycle-only oriented society regardless of the enthusiasm of the bicycling proponents.

I do agree it's a shame the AHTD won't allow any changes. Some very minor changes that wouldn't affect the well being of the Fulbright Expressway could really improve the tunnel. But the AHTD did make their wishes known before the city went into agreement with them, so guess we'll just have to deal with it.

As far as the section of trail under Van Asche, yeah I think perhaps they might try to do something. That and the section of trail that goes under Gregg have some problems after heavy rains. Although the city did already do something about Appleby though.

I think we all know there's no way we're getting rid of motor vehicles. I don't think the trail system is anything about that. I think we also know that most people who do use the trails use them for recreational purposes. But there are some that use the trail system as an alternative to the usual motor vehicles. I actually happen to be one of those people. Of course there's no way I'm giving up my car. But I like having the option of being able to get to parts of the city without having to use my car. But as much as I like the trail system and see it as a good use of my tax money, I know there are certainly those who don't. For that matter there are those who probably see putting more money into public transportation as a waste as well. But anyway for all those who have no interest in the trail system. I'd just like them to know it has managed to get some people like me off the roads quite a bit. So at least there's been a little less traffic for them to have to deal with. But as was stated earlier, I think most of it's use is for recreational purposes. In a lot of instances I think you can see that in the trail system. Going by Wilson Park, reach with the use of bicycle lanes Lake Fayetteville and the two parks up there. And I think at some point in the future one of the big priorities will be linking Gulley Park to the trail system.

[zman9810]

I do agree it's a shame the AHTD won't allow any changes. Some very minor changes that wouldn't affect the well being of the Fulbright Expressway could really improve the tunnel. But the AHTD did make their wishes known before the city went into agreement with them, so guess we'll just have to deal with it.

As far as the section of trail under Van Asche, yeah I think perhaps they might try to do something. That and the section of trail that goes under Gregg have some problems after heavy rains. Although the city did already do something about Appleby though.

I think we all know there's no way we're getting rid of motor vehicles. I don't think the trail system is anything about that. I think we also know that most people who do use the trails use them for recreational purposes. But there are some that use the trail system as an alternative to the usual motor vehicles. I actually happen to be one of those people. Of course there's no way I'm giving up my car. But I like having the option of being able to get to parts of the city without having to use my car. But as much as I like the trail system and see it as a good use of my tax money, I know there are certainly those who don't. For that matter there are those who probably see putting more money into public transportation as a waste as well. But anyway for all those who have no interest in the trail system. I'd just like them to know it has managed to get some people like me off the roads quite a bit. So at least there's been a little less traffic for them to have to deal with. But as was stated earlier, I think most of it's use is for recreational purposes. In a lot of instances I think you can see that in the trail system. Going by Wilson Park, reach with the use of bicycle lanes Lake Fayetteville and the two parks up there. And I think at some point in the future one of the big priorities will be linking Gulley Park to the trail system.

Yes, I think that many people see the trail system as a worthwhile investment as I do to a point. I had overheard a conversation where someone was saying that no more money should be spent on road improvements- any further transportation spending should be for improving bicycle access. That sort of talk concerns me considering how much some of the roads in Fayetteville need improvements. You are also right about some people seeing public transportation as a waste of money and that also concerns me. Improving public transit in NWA is very important.

The Gulley Park connection is needed but the stress put on the Old Missouri Road crossing is going to be very bad. I still hate seeing trail users being employed as traffic calming devices. That crossing has made a smooth motor vehicle traffic route into a congested intersection even with the small amount of trail use it gets now- I can't imagine how it will be when even more people are trying to cross. I still hope that the city will see the danger involved and redesign the trail to go under the Mud Creek bridge and not cross at street level.

[Mith242]

Looks like there's going to be a new bicycle lane in the near future. I saw something going on recently and got confirmation. A lot of Sycamore already has the sharrow emblems out. But east of Gregg you have the uphill section there. They decided any bicyclists traveling on that section would be moving particularly slow and they are making room for a bicycle lane on the south side of the road. Till you get up to the top of the hill then bicyclists will merge back into the regular lane again.

[Mith242]

One more update. Front St will also be getting bicycle lanes from Joyce to Millsap. In the past I think there was bicycle lanes there but at some point got covered up when the street was repaved. Which should make accessing Front St from the Mud Creek Trail even easier. Although I've never really had any problems over there anyway. Sometimes you have to stop for traffic. But it's pretty much like any other street crossing.

[thewizard16]

http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2010/oct/15/fayetteville-bella-vista-trail-get-15m/?latest

FAYETTEVILLE — The state’s two senators say $15 million in stimulus money has been alloted to a plan to build a hiking and biking trail from Fayetteville to Bella Vista in northwest Arkansas.

The announcement Friday from Sens. Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor said the money for the Northwest Arkansas Razorback Regional Greenway Project would come from the federal Transportation Department’s TIGER program — Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery.

The project calls for a 40-mile bicycle, pedestrian and mobility corridor stretching from southern Fayetteville to Lake Bella Vista. The corridor will pass through Bentonville , Rogers, Lowell, Springdale, Johnson and Fayetteville.

- My thoughts- Fantastic. This is a cool program and it's nice to see serious money thrown it's way. However- how the hell is it that we can only get $10 million (split between two states!) for the Bella Vista Bypass program from TIGER, but the senators pull $15 million for a hiking and bike trail in the same region out of thin air? Very strange.

[Mith242]

http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2010/oct/15/fayetteville-bella-vista-trail-get-15m/?latest

FAYETTEVILLE — The state’s two senators say $15 million in stimulus money has been alloted to a plan to build a hiking and biking trail from Fayetteville to Bella Vista in northwest Arkansas.

The announcement Friday from Sens. Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor said the money for the Northwest Arkansas Razorback Regional Greenway Project would come from the federal Transportation Department’s TIGER program — Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery.

The project calls for a 40-mile bicycle, pedestrian and mobility corridor stretching from southern Fayetteville to Lake Bella Vista. The corridor will pass through Bentonville , Rogers, Lowell, Springdale, Johnson and Fayetteville.

- My thoughts- Fantastic. This is a cool program and it's nice to see serious money thrown it's way. However- how the hell is it that we can only get $10 million (split between two states!) for the Bella Vista Bypass program from TIGER, but the senators pull $15 million for a hiking and bike trail in the same region out of thin air? Very strange.

Yeah I was just reading about that this morning. Certainly a good point you mentioned. Honestly this has probably has more to do with Blanche Lincoln attempt to be re-elected. But the other thing I've wondered about is, how far is $15 Mill going to go? Using what the apparent costs per mile for the Fayetteville Trail system, doesn't seem like that would cover the whole 40 miles.

[Mith242]

Got some info from the Trails Coordinator, Matt Mihalevich, on the $15 Mil TIGER II funding. Out of the $15 Mil Fayetteville will receive about $3 Mil. With this funding the city will extend the Scull Creek Trail northward to Johnson, then at Clear Creek it will cut eastward and connect up to the Lake Fayetteville Trail somewhere near the spillway. I had heard about two different options for connecting northward, one through Johnson the other through Springdale via Lake Fayetteville. Looks like now will be getting the later. But also some of the funding will go towards south Fayetteville as well. The Frisco Trail will be extended south past MLK Blvd to Walker Park then further south to Town Branch Creek. There are plans for the Town Branch Trail in southern Fayetteville, but I'm not sure if this will be included in this funding or will have to be something done through other funding. Right now there's just one small section of the Town Branch Trail west of Razorback/Cato Springs Rd. But Matt also mentioned something about the Town Branch Trail between Razorback and Morningside. I'll try to get more details.

[aerotive]

Sounds good, have wondered why they haven't connected the Walker trail to Frisco already. Certainly makes sense, it's such a short distance to the north end of Walker park.

Personally I'd rather have Gulley connected to Scull Creek before extending Scull north to Johnson, or connect Gulley to Mud Creek, suppose those will come in time.

[Mith242]

Sounds good, have wondered why they haven't connected the Walker trail to Frisco already. Certainly makes sense, it's such a short distance to the north end of Walker park.

Personally I'd rather have Gulley connected to Scull Creek before extending Scull north to Johnson, or connect Gulley to Mud Creek, suppose those will come in time.

My guess as to why Walker Park hasn't been connected before now is probably how to deal with the MLK Blvd crossing. A tunnel or bridge is going to be rather expensive compared to just putting in regular trail somewhere else.

As far as connecting the Mud Creek Trail to Gulley Park, as of right now that's in the works for next year. But it's not considered a part of this TIGER II funding. The whole idea for this regional trail system was to come up with a plan to connect trail systems together to get one big regional trail. This is what all of the TIGER II funding is going towards.

Speaking of plans for next year, there are three trails being planned. There's the U of A agri trail. They're still working with the U of A on where exactly this trail will go through. It's going to have top priority for next year. Next will be completing the Lake Fayetteville Trail on the south side of the lake. Next priority will be the Niokaska Creek Trail. This is the trail that will connect the Mud Creek Trail to Gulley Park. Those were all planned beforehand for the upcoming year.

But now that the TIGER II funding went through these are also planned to start sometime next year. Although Matt Mihalevich, the Trails Coordinator, has already told me that some of these are going to have to roll over to 2012 because there won't be time to complete everything. The first thing planned will be the Frisco Trail south of MLK Blvd. Then the Clear Creek Trail. This is the trail that will extend the Scull Creek northwards to Clear Creek and then follow Clear Creek eastward and connect up to the Lake Fayetteville Trail. At the bottom of the list is the Town Branch Trail. While it is eligible for TIGER II funding it's not clear whether it will get the funding because it's not considered a higher priority. Matt Mihalevich is going to try to get the Town Creek Trail in there, but the other regional trail sections are considered priorities. It could come down to how far funding goes for Frisco Trail extension and the Clear Creek Trail. Not only will the Frisco Trail have to cross MLK Blvd, it's also going to have to cross Hwy 71B. Both of those crossings are going to have to either be bridges or tunnels.

[aerotive]

Figured they'd do it wrong and put the trail surface grade with 6th and College. Good to know it won't be.

[Mith242]

Figured they'd do it wrong and put the trail surface grade with 6th and College. Good to know it won't be.

Well I can't say positively that they won't. But considering the funding involved and the reaction to the North St crossing. I really doubt the city would look to try to put an at grade crossing at those locations. Although actually the second crossing would be S School not College Ave. But I think someone would have to be crazy to serious consider an at grade crossing on either School or College Ave.

[Mith242]

Slowly more info is starting to come out. I had thought $15 Mil might be too small a figure for a 49 mile trail. Looks like that is correct. The estimated cost of the whole 40 mile trail is around $38 Mil. So I'm not sure what sections will be completed and which will be put off till later. Although some of the cities like Fayetteville have already completed sections of this future regional trail. Not sure if that was taken into consideration or not. Or if this $38 Mil figure is just to finish completing the other sections.

[aerotive]

"Final Section Of Fayetteville Trail Opens Wednesday"

http://www.4029tv.com/news/25449703/detail.html

[Mith242]

"Final Section Of Fayetteville Trail Opens Wednesday"

http://www.4029tv.com/news/25449703/detail.html

Yeah that section of the Frisco Trail has been open for a little while now. They had a few things to do like putting in more fencing and such. But it's been paved for a few weeks now. But yeah Grand Opening is today at 5:30PM near Maple St.

[Mith242]

Thought I'd mention a few more changes I've noticed recently on the Fayetteville Trail system. Front St has been re-striped including the bicycle lanes. That spur that runs off of the Mud Creek Trail to Joyce and the to the bicycle lanes on Vantage was damaged a month or so ago. That section has now been repaved. It also looks like section of the Scull Creek/Frisco Trail that had been missing lighting is now getting it as well. The lights stopped a bit south of North St. But now the city is working on putting up lampposts from there to at least Frisco Ave. Haven't seen any work yet on the section between Frisco to Maple, or for that matter the newest section of the Frisco Trail. But they could be working their way to it.

[akahogfan]

Driving on campus I have noticed that the Frisco offshoot, the Oak Ridge Trail, seems to be underway, directly west of Harmon Ave. There have been a few small bulldozers clearing the path the last few days.

http://www.accessfay...Project_Map.pdf

[aerotive]

Fayetteville's been awarded a $500,000 grant, part of which will go towards extending the trail to Walker Park.

Corrected link:

http://www.ozarksunbound.com/fayetteville-awarded-50000-through-sustainable-cities-institutes-pilot-program/12677

[Mith242]

Fayetteville's been awarded a $500,000 grant, part of which will go towards extending the trail to Walker Park.

http://www.ozarksunbound.com/fayetteville-awarded-50000-through-sustainable-cities-institutes-pilot-program/12677

Hmmm...that's good to hear but I'm a bit puzzled. As far as I knew that section was already going to be funded because it's going to be considered a part of the Regional Trail. The Frisco Trail is supposed to be extended towards Walker Park then continue a bit further south connecting to what will eventually be Town Branch Trail.

[aerotive]

Not sure, perhaps they just padded the trail project on to this press release to make it look better overall?

[Mith242]

Not sure, perhaps they just padded the trail project on to this press release to make it look better overall?

Perhaps, it just also helps ensure there's enough money for the regional trail. Fayetteville is only getting a portion of that $15 Mil. And I'm still trying to figure out the $38 Mil I saw mentioned as well that it would take to build the entire regional trail. I know some sections have already been built, like the Scull Creek Trail. So is the previous $38 Mil figure I saw putting the eventual cost of the whole trail, including sections already been built. Or is the $38 Mil only for the unbuilt sections. If that's the case, there's only money to build a little under half of the regional trail. Then the question becomes what gets built with that $15 Mil.

[Mith242]

Heard a little about this a week or so ago. Apparently there was a Dec 15th deadline to create a construction schedule and detailed project budget for the Razorback Regional Greenway. There's the $15 Mil funds from the TIGER II grant. But they're also counting on $10 Mil from the Walton foundation. They think $25 Mil should be enough to complete the whole trail. But more money would be needed for amenities like benches and such. I think the cities that already have sections completed already have amenities like this put in on their sections. I thought I had seen something showing the trail would be complete in 2013. But now I'm seeing 2016 mentioned. One thing is they still have to figure out how the federal funds can be spent. The funding could only go to construction or it might also apply to engineering and design. Fayetteville designs all it's trails in house. But if the federal funds also to go design and engineering then another way might have to be found because there has to be competitive bidding. If federal money only goes to construction then it would be used in all involved cities. But if it's to be used for construction, design and engineering, then the federal funds would go just to the Springdale-Lowell section. With Walton foundation money going to the other cities. Allowing in house design and engineering to occur. We've passed the Dec 15th deadline and I haven't heard any problems. But a little info at this point would be nice just to confirm.

[aerotive]

Transit Oriented Development :

Have also noticed that ever more apartment complexes are advertising "direct trail access" & the like.

[Mith242]

Transit Oriented Development :

Have also noticed that ever more apartment complexes are advertising "direct trail access" & the like.

Yeah I've noticed more and more places acknowledging the trail as well. I've seen that sign you posted a picture of as well. I'm hoping this weekend to go by and see how the Oak Ridge Trail is coming along.

[Mith242]

Waiting to get a response back from Fayetteville Trail Coordinator, Matt Mihalevich about some more info on a couple of future trails. Apparently pedestrians will have to share a couple of sections of trails. One will be the Clear Creek Trail. It would basically affect the section near where it would connect up to the west side of the Lake Fayetteville Trail. The trail would be located on what is now a gravel road used by a cabin located east of Lokomotion. While it would be nice to not to have to deal with this, it is basically just traffic going to one cabin. The steep cliffs down below the Lake Fayetteville dam make placing the trail anywhere else rather difficult.

The other section would be along a yet named future trail going through the U of A Agri area. After agreeing to allow use of a trail through their agri area, they've been difficult to work with from the sound of it. Sounds like they've only allowed access through one section only. I'm waiting for a response from Matt Mihalevich to figure out how the eastern section of the trail will be placed and designed. But for the western part of the trail, it will basically make use of a gravel road that parallels I-540. Apparently the gravel road is used for overflow traffic during the Washington County Fair. The trail will be made extra wide on this section so there's enough room for pedestrians and vehicles. It mainly sounds like that section of trail wouldn't see much vehicular traffic on it except for around the Washington County Fair anyway. A little disappointing when I first heard it. But if that's the only option the university is going to give then I think we can work with it. I hope to have some more info soon.