Razorback Greenway and other NWA Trail Systems

[Mith242]

Looks like pedicabs will be able to start using the Scull Creek, Frisco and Mud Creek Trails. But for now it's just between the hours of 10PM to 5AM. Sounds like they can also prohibit use on sections of trail that vary from the typical 12 ft width. Seems to me that cuts off the Mud Creek Trail from the Scull Creek Trail. There's certainly not that amount of space when the trail uses the Steele and Mall Ave bridges. Although I guess the pedicabs go then just access the streets at that point then get back on the trail past the bridge. But anyway seems to be a good way to test things out. I suppose if there's problems they can simply keep them in that limited time slot or take them off the trails altogether if there appears to be too many problems.

[thewizard16]

I saw this video on CNN iReport this evening:

http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-596326

That's a mess! How much damage do you guys up there think is being done to the trail system (not to mention the roads) right now?

[aerotive]

I saw this video on CNN iReport this evening:

http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-596326

That's a mess! How much damage do you guys up there think is being done to the trail system (not to mention the roads) right now?

I walked a short section of the trail by Wilson park early this morning, did not see any obvious damage. The bridge is still there.

Little bit of dirt and debris. People ignoring the "closed road" signs by that low-water cut through road.

[Mith242]

I'd heard some rumors about the Fayetteville Trail system so I wanted to get out and check it when I had the chance. At first I thought the rumors were all overblown. Some sections of the trail that go right by Scull Creek handled it rather well. But eventually I started seeing more problems. The obvious one is that the Frisco Trail is closed just south of Center St. Part of the bank subsided and a section of trail has slide down. Right about where you have that steep section going off to the Fayetteville Public Library. I'd say about half of the lane is gone. Then you also have to wonder about the stability of the rest of that section there so obviously the city closed it all off. I'm wondering if they'll try moving the trail over to the east a little. But even then they'll probably need to do some work stabilizing that area so more land doesn't slide down. I was impressed how well the city has gotten a lot of debris cleared already in other areas of the trail system. Of course there was lot of gravel at that sharp corner near Gregg as usual. Looks like a lot of debris ended up at the south end of the Fulbright Expressway Tunnel. Maybe even an uprooted tree. It's still pretty messy but they have the tree and all the other debris off the trail. And as usual the north end of the same tunnel is flooded. So that's as far north as I went. I imagine the rest of the Scull Creek Trail would be okay. No idea how well the Mud Creek Trail held up.

[aerotive]

Yeah I walked by the damaged portion today and it made me more than a little nervous. Hopefully they've had an engineer down there to see if it's really safe.

I don't see them keeping that section open for much longer. There was also a report in the Flyer that it could take up to a year to repair, which seems absurd.

[wmr]

Yeah I walked by the damaged portion today and it made me more than a little nervous. Hopefully they've had an engineer down there to see if it's really safe.

I don't see them keeping that section open for much longer. There was also a report in the Flyer that it could take up to a year to repair, which seems absurd.

It seems to make sense that they wait until summer when the heavy spring rains have subsided. It would be a shame to start moving dirt down there and have it all washed away again. Hopefully we won't see that kind of flooding again in our lifetimes.

[zman9810]

Yeah I walked by the damaged portion today and it made me more than a little nervous. Hopefully they've had an engineer down there to see if it's really safe.

I don't see them keeping that section open for much longer. There was also a report in the Flyer that it could take up to a year to repair, which seems absurd.

I think the year time frame is because of funding problems. As popular as that section is I would hope they would shift money from other projects so it can be repaired quicker.

[Mith242]

Back from vacation I was able to head out and check out more of the trail system since all the rain. They do have one lane open now on that section of the Frisco Trail. Last time I had been by the whole trail was closed. I also noticed an older section of the Oak Ridge Trail over by the university also had some damage and had some of the edge of the trail fall off as that bank also subsided. The Mud Creek Trail over all wasn't too bad. But it seems to have had problems with sections of the edge of the trail eroding away. As far as the time line goes on repairing sections of the trail. Yeah it's certainly frustrating. But in most cases the money set aside comes from funds that were specifically set for a particular project. Unfortunately I don't think there's any easy way to simply move the funds over to another project. Especially if the funds come from federal grants and such. You have to use the funds for the specific reason they were appropriated. But hopefully something will come up to allow faster repairs.

[Mith242]

There's still more work to be done on the Oak Ridge Trail, but I went by today and it's all paved, so it's useable. But there is a bit of debris on the trail, especially on the western part.

[photosynthetica]

Back from vacation I was able to head out and check out more of the trail system since all the rain. They do have one lane open now on that section of the Frisco Trail. Last time I had been by the whole trail was closed. I also noticed an older section of the Oak Ridge Trail over by the university also had some damage and had some of the edge of the trail fall off as that bank also subsided. The Mud Creek Trail over all wasn't too bad. But it seems to have had problems with sections of the edge of the trail eroding away. As far as the time line goes on repairing sections of the trail. Yeah it's certainly frustrating. But in most cases the money set aside comes from funds that were specifically set for a particular project. Unfortunately I don't think there's any easy way to simply move the funds over to another project. Especially if the funds come from federal grants and such. You have to use the funds for the specific reason they were appropriated. But hopefully something will come up to allow faster repairs.

Hey, found this forum through a string of Google searches looking for trail maps (Google maps will highlight bike trails if you get directions by bike). Signed up to say thanks for the photos and all the info, as I am just getting started with the biking trails around here.

[Mith242]

Hey, found this forum through a string of Google searches looking for trail maps (Google maps will highlight bike trails if you get directions by bike). Signed up to say thanks for the photos and all the info, as I am just getting started with the biking trails around here.

Glad you found us. Feel free to stop by and join in on any of the topics.

[Mith242]

A very large tree has fallen over on the Scull Creek Trail around the U of A Agri area. If you're on foot you might be able to climb over it. With it being the weekend the city might not take care if it till Monday.

[Mith242]

All the heavy rains the past month or two have put back the schedule for future work. But now it's going to be put back even more. All those heavy rains have really caused problems with putting debris in drainage areas all throughout the city. So much so that the city has more work back up for the usual crew well past the end of the year. So the city going to have some of the crew that works on the new trails help out to try to catch them back up. While it's disappointing to hear it's certainly understandable. Not sure on any exact dates right now. Sounds like work on the future trail around the U of A agri area might be put back a couple months.

[Mith242]

Looks like they've recently started doing some work on the 'shoulders' of the Mud Creek Trail. Areas that experienced some erosion from all the flooding rains earlier in the year. And apparently what I read about the trail work being put off isn't quite true. First of all the city hasn't made it's decision on whether to take some of the other crews to work on the drainage issues yet. Even if they do, some of the trail crew will still be working on the U of A farm trail. But obviously work will progress more slowly with fewer people there. But apparently work has already started on that future trail. Still no word on what that future trail will be called. For some reason sounds like they aren't going to decide a name for it till construction is mostly done. In most cases seems like names were already decided well before that point on the other trails.

[Mith242]

I recently had some wisdom teeth removed so I haven't been hitting some areas of the Fayetteville Trail system much lately. But today I noticed it looks like they've gotten up posts for lighting on the newest section of the Frisco Trail. I keep forgetting to check and see just how much of the Fayetteville Trail system has lighting. I admit I usually hit it during daytime hours and not night. After this newest section is lit I'm pretty sure the whole Frisco Trail will be lighted. And I think most of the Scull Creek Trail is lit as well. I've also noticed the city has been putting in some new trees in the northern parts of the Scull Creek Trail lately. Taking out some of the trees that have died in that section as well.

[FabianR]

There are tons of trees in the middle of the trail at Lake Atalanta in rogers. i go walking to the park from my house and take the trail as a shortcut but i had to go the long way because there is like no way around the trees.

[Mith242]

There are tons of trees in the middle of the trail at Lake Atalanta in rogers. i go walking to the park from my house and take the trail as a shortcut but i had to go the long way because there is like no way around the trees.

I'm not too familiar with that trail. Is that a paved trail or a nature/dirt trail?

[FabianR]

I'm not too familiar with that trail. Is that a paved trail or a nature/dirt trail?

its a nature trail. not that many people know about it and i pretty much never see anybody using it but it is pretty cool. you go all the way to the end of east poplar st. in downtown rogers and then you will see the entrance.

[Mith242]

Looks like Fayetteville has been doing some work on the Mud Creek Trail. Putting in gravel and concrete on some of those edges of the trail that was damaged from those big rains we had back in the Spring. (Isn't that a distant memory now) Looks like they're also putting another bench in near the eastern end of the Mud Creek Trail as well. Also put up an informational sign about riparian areas on the Mud Creek Trail near the spur you take to head up to the Lake Fayetteville Trail. I noticed it looks like they cleaned the southern half of the Fulbright Expressway tunnel. Which is a bit odd, because it's the northern half of the tunnel that's gotten to be very muddy. Hopefully someone is going to go back and eventually do the northern half of the tunnel.

[Mith242]

Recently got a little more info out of Matt Mihalevich, the Fayetteville Trails Coordinator. Work is ahead of schedule with the future U of A farm trail. But there are delays with permits to the highway dept on the tunnel under Garland Ave. The city still hasn't gone through the process of giving that trail an official name. But a couple of names have popped up, Meadow Valley Trail and Meadowlark Trail. The Meadow Valley name comes from an old schoolhouse that used to be located on the Agri Park. It was originally built in the 1800's at the intersection of Mt. Comfort and Deane Soloman. Right now they're hoping that trail will be completed in early 2012. Recently there had been a little press on another future trail for the Fayetteville Trail system, the Town Branch Creek Trail in south Fayetteville. The city recently got a $270,000 federal grant for the trail. In 2013 they're hoping to start on it and work on the 2.3 mile section between Razorback Rd over to City Lake Rd. I included a map of the trail and other future sections of trail for that part of the city.

[Mith242]

Just wanted to say how impressed I am in with how Fayetteville does upkeep on the trail system. Had some pretty heavy rains last night from the storms. And of course when that happens and you have quite a bit of trails next to creeks you end up with lots of rocks, silt and debris on the trails. But the city had already gone out earlier today and had it all cleared off. So there's lots of nice clean trails out there today. There's been other time when trees have fallen over onto the trails over the weekend and the city has gotten people out there pretty quickly to clear it. Just really nice to see them get on things so quickly.

[aerotive]

Just wanted to say how impressed I am in with how Fayetteville does upkeep on the trail system. Had some pretty heavy rains last night from the storms. And of course when that happens and you have quite a bit of trails next to creeks you end up with lots of rocks, silt and debris on the trails. But the city had already gone out earlier today and had it all cleared off. So there's lots of nice clean trails out there today. There's been other time when trees have fallen over onto the trails over the weekend and the city has gotten people out there pretty quickly to clear it. Just really nice to see them get on things so quickly.

They've still done zip to fix the cave in on the Frisco trail...that's been, what, six months now? What were their excuses again? If something similar had happened to the least important stretch of the most lightly trafficked street in city it still very likely would've been fixed much faster. It's embarrassing and makes the community's supposed emphasis on green living look like so much greenwashing.

[Mith242]

They've still done zip to fix the cave in on the Frisco trail...that's been, what, six months now? What were their excuses again? If something similar had happened to the least important stretch of the most lightly trafficked street in city it still very likely would've been fixed much faster. It's embarrassing and makes the community's supposed emphasis on green living look like so much greenwashing.

Yeah and I know they're building new sections of trail in the meantime. The problem is that money was already appropriated for these other uses. But once those grants and funding is issued you can't go back and re designate their use. So the city can't take away funding on the future trail over by the U of A agri for example to make repairs to the Frisco Trail. With some road construction plans having been pushed back I would imagine that section of the Frisco Trail won't be fixed till 2012 at the soonest. Complicating matters is that this isn't going to be an easy fix. Which of course means it's going to be expensive to fix. One good thing is that the voters passed extending the city sales tax earlier this week. While I would imagine there are other needs at the top of the list. But one of the things mentioned when the city was trying to sway voters to extend the sales tax was money from the sales tax could be used for the trail system. Of course you also know some people will throw a fit when the city does fix that small section of trail and people find out how much it costs. Some people are going to want to see that money put towards other road projects not the trail system. But yeah I know it's frustrating that, that section of trail is still sitting there the way it was since Spring. I think another factor that may have played into all of this, is that the trail there is still usable. Granted it's down to one lane although it isn't great to look at either. Guess I'm just a bit more forgiving on this particular issue. It hasn't been too big of a hassle for me to wait for that one lane section.

[zman9810]

Recently got a little more info out of Matt Mihalevich, the Fayetteville Trails Coordinator. Work is ahead of schedule with the future U of A farm trail. But there are delays with permits to the highway dept on the tunnel under Garland Ave. The city still hasn't gone through the process of giving that trail an official name. But a couple of names have popped up, Meadow Valley Trail and Meadowlark Trail. The Meadow Valley name comes from an old schoolhouse that used to be located on the Agri Park. It was originally built in the 1800's at the intersection of Mt. Comfort and Deane Soloman. Right now they're hoping that trail will be completed in early 2012. Recently there had been a little press on another future trail for the Fayetteville Trail system, the Town Branch Creek Trail in south Fayetteville. The city recently got a $270,000 federal grant for the trail. In 2013 they're hoping to start on it and work on the 2.3 mile section between Razorback Rd over to City Lake Rd. I included a map of the trail and other future sections of trail for that part of the city.

I am so glad to see that they are building a tunnel under Garland. It will make that trail and street so much safer and user friendly for all. Hopefully this plan will be used on all major street crossings that aren't at a traffic light controlled intersection. I still hate the Old Missouri Road crossing- it is much more dangerous than it should be.

[Mith242]

Thought I'd post some updates on the Fayetteville Trail system. First of all on the repair on the section of the Frisco Trail damaged from the flooding back in the Spring. Part of the long drawn out process is because FEMA is involved. They have agreed to pay to repair it. But then another problem has come up. FEMA will only pay for a certain amount and it looks like it's going to cost more than that to fix it. So the city is once again trying to see if there's a way to minimize costs and get the whole thing going. Matt Mihalevich, the Fayetteville Trails Coordinator, says he's hoping to have bids out on it in the next month or so.

The schedule on the 'U of A Farm Trail' (nothing official but looks like this trail might be officially named the Meadow Valley Trail) has been pushed back because it took longer to have the tunnel put in under Garland Ave. It's timetable has been pushed back to Spring of 2012. After that then the city will move up to Lake Fayetteville and finish that last one mile section of trail on the south side of the lake. That's expected to be complete by Summer of 2012 then the city will move to the Town Branch Trail from Razorback Road east to City Lake Road on the south side of town.