Razorback Greenway and other NWA Trail Systems

[Mith242]

And a some more maps.  Here's the southern extension of the Frisco Trail.

 

 

 

Here's a map of the Town Branch Trail.  I believe it and the southern Frisco Trail extension will be considered part of the Razorback Greenway as well.

 

 

 

And then a map of the future Tsa La Gi Trail in southern Fayetteville.

 

[Mith242]

One more map.  Of course it's subject to change, but for now this is what's being planned for Fayetteville on it's trail system in the next 5 years.  Right now focus is on north Fayetteville.  2013 the focus will shift down to south Fayetteille.  2014 the focus will mainly be in west Fayetteville.  2015 shifts over to northeast Fayetteville.  2016 back over to west Fayetteville.  Then 2017 focuses on northwest Fayetteville.

 

[aerotive]

Thanks for the maps, the Tsa La Gi one looks promising.  Will provide a connection to a good number of potential new trail users.

[Mith242]

Thanks for the maps, the Tsa La Gi one looks promising.  Will provide a connection to a good number of potential new trail users.

Yeah really it seems like only the east side of the city is being a bit left out.  But I think topography in that part of the city hurts a bit.  Also I'm not sure if there's as much demand from that part of the city or not to be honest.  Some people might not like the trail going through their property and so on.  I also wonder if in general property prices might be higher in that part of the city and therefore more expensive for the city to put trails in compared to other areas.  But that's just speculation from me.

[aerotive]

Just here to complain again about the textured surface in front of the newish gate on Maple.  Took the eastern/downhill direction today for the second time by bike, and if you avoid that bit by the gate you then cannot get into the right hand lane without going over rough, broken pavement.  Either road needs to be fixed or the textured surface should be removed.  Preferably both.

 

Also, the bike lanes on Appleby need some attention.  There are asphalt-to-concrete seams in the middle of the bike lane along lengthy sections, forcing you to ride either too close to traffic or too close to the curb.  On other sections there are plain cracks in the bike lane, forcing the same thing.

[Mith242]

It's been a while so thought I'd give some updates on the Fayetteville Trail system.  The one mile stretch of the Lake Fayetteville Trail extension was paved this week.  None of the shoulders have been worked on yet.  But over all the trail is basically ready for people to use and now goes completely around the whole lake.  

Sounds like most of the red tape around extending the Meadow Valley Trail to the Mt Comfort bicycle lanes is just about over.  It appears 'air space' issues were holding things up.  That and I think future widening of I-540 above head might have been complicating matters.  

The Scull Creek Trail has basically been extended northward to the bridge in Johnson, but haven't seen anything past this point.  It does sound like they've been doing some work north of the NWA Mall area for the Clear Creek Trail.  But I haven't seen what's actually been done so far.

Sounds like Right of Way is expected to be completed sometime this month for the western part of the Town Creek Trail in southern Fayetteville.  Once that happens then the highway dept will bid it out.

Sounds like the tunnel for the future Tsa La Gi Trail is now being prefabricated.  I believe this tunnel will be going under the railroad tracks in southern Fayetteville.  The city is working with the A&M Railroad on a time to temporarily shut down the railroad to install the tunnel.  Also sounds like the city is working now on rehabilitating the old railroad trestle.

[Mith242]

Also forgot to mention.  With the work on the traffic circle just north of Washington Regional and work on Futrall, they've now made a more permanent concrete divider on the Scull Creek Trail just south of the Fulbright Expressway.  So now the trail is a bit wider along that section of trail that parallels Futrall.

[aerotive]

Are these plans to connect the main trail to the shortish bit of trail that starts near Sam's?  Hardly ever see anyone else using it, walking, bicycling, or whatever.  Connecting it to something, somewhere would hopefully help.  The bike lanes on Mt Comfort are the same, have never seen anyone else using them.  A connection out there would be welcome.  Then extend the lanes on Mt Comfort to Rupple.

 

The new trail extension around Lake Fyv is nice, I expect that trail to become even more popular that it already is.  No more doubling back.

 

Re the roundabout, there's also some new sidewalks going in that are long, long overdue. 

[Mith242]

Are these plans to connect the main trail to the shortish bit of trail that starts near Sam's?  Hardly ever see anyone else using it, walking, bicycling, or whatever.  Connecting it to something, somewhere would hopefully help.  The bike lanes on Mt Comfort are the same, have never seen anyone else using them.  A connection out there would be welcome.  Then extend the lanes on Mt Comfort to Rupple.

 

The new trail extension around Lake Fyv is nice, I expect that trail to become even more popular that it already is.  No more doubling back.

 

Re the roundabout, there's also some new sidewalks going in that are long, long overdue. 

The extension of the Meadow Valley Trail will connect up to the Mt Comfort bicycle lanes.  Work on connecting up to the Shiloh Trail, the trail that goes up towards Sam's isn't scheduled for another year or two.  I admit I think I've only seen one other person on the Shiloh Trail while I was using it.  But I have a number of people on the Mt Comfort bicycle lanes.  

[nikk4s]

The ground breaking ceremony was finally held for Springdale's section of the trail yesterday. There will be a new trailhead by lake springdale. It'll be great to start seeing work on a connection between the faytown trails and the rogers/bentonville trails. There is also talk of some new mt bike trails up near that trailhead in the future. They plan to dig up the creek through downtown and turn a large parking lot into a town square.

[Mith242]

The ground breaking ceremony was finally held for Springdale's section of the trail yesterday. There will be a new trailhead by lake springdale. It'll be great to start seeing work on a connection between the faytown trails and the rogers/bentonville trails. There is also talk of some new mt bike trails up near that trailhead in the future. They plan to dig up the creek through downtown and turn a large parking lot into a town square.

Yeah the news about the possible mtn bike trails in Springdale was news to me as well.

[UrbanArkie]

Why not develop some urban ATV trails?

[aerotive]

Think they are starting the work to tunnel under MLK...the last bit of the trail near MLK is blocked off and there's backhoe digging going on.  

 

Anyone know of a timetable for the Lake Fayetteville extension and the Tsa La Gi trail?

[Mith242]

Think they are starting the work to tunnel under MLK...the last bit of the trail near MLK is blocked off and there's backhoe digging going on.  

 

Anyone know of a timetable for the Lake Fayetteville extension and the Tsa La Gi trail?

I had thought I'd heard that the bidding process on the Frisco Trail under MLK would happen in the new few days.  But I do think they've gotten a little work done early in advance of it.  On the Lake Fayetteville extension, do you mean that last bit of the loop on the southern side of the lake?  It's been done a while now.  If you're talking about the Razorback Greenway section that will connect up to the Lake Fayetteville Trail.  Things have been progressing pretty well.  I think a lot of it is done north of the Scull Creek Trail up to around the NWA Mall area.  You can't really check it out much though because all the bridges are fenced off.  With actual metal fence segments.  Not the little plastic orange stuff.  They're currently working somewhere on the section near the Mall.  Haven't gotten the spur connection to the Mall done yet.  And I don't think any work has been done from around the cell tower north of the Mall to the Lake Fayetteville spillway yet.  I think it's possible it could be done later this year.  While some work has been done on the Tsa La Gi Trail.  It's now on the back burner as they focus on other sections.  I think the main thing they did on the Tsa La Gi Trail is put in a tunnel under the railroad.  I think the city was trying to work with the A&M Railroad on a good time to shut down the railroad while they installed the tunnel.  I suppose some of the other sections of trail they're working on might be completed before the end of the year.  But realistically I'd expect early next year.

[aerotive]

Thanks, was referring to the Greenway section.

 

Saw today some new dirt work out by the Porter & 540 exit, assume that's for the extension to link the trail to the Mt Comfort bike lanes.

[aerotive]

Article yesterday on parts of the trail system expected to open this year (paywalled):  http://www.nwaonline.com/news/2014/jan/25/new-fayetteville-trail-construction-tap/?news-arkansas-nwa-fayetteville

 

2.8 mile Town Branch, Razorback Road to City Lake Road

0.5 mile extension of the Frisco Trail to Walker park

1.8 mile Tas La Gi, Frisco Trail to Hollywood Ave

3 mile Clear Creek, Lake Fayetteville to Scull Creek

[Snaple4]

Got a few questions.

 

Going up the Bush Push at Slaughter-Pen there is a round area were people seem to have a fire pit and a wooden staircase to the right/east. If you keep going strait towards the unfinished housing area there is a stone cross and some stone benches on the right/east. I have been through that section several times but this was the first during the winter and I just noticed it. Anyone know what it is, how old? It looks like it was just left to the wild but can't tell. 

 

At the intersection of Tiger and A in Bentonville there are natural trails on the North West and South West sections... Are there any on the North East part? I was finishing my jog through there and noticed that there looks to be small trails along the road going to towards the sewer plant but can't tell if they are human trails. I don't like going off on other peoples property if I can avoid it. 

 

Anyone know of any good trail running/mountain biking trails around Bentonville that are not that well known?

[JamesE]

Article yesterday on parts of the trail system expected to open this year (paywalled):  http://www.nwaonline.com/news/2014/jan/25/new-fayetteville-trail-construction-tap/?news-arkansas-nwa-fayetteville

 

2.8 mile Town Branch, Razorback Road to City Lake Road

0.5 mile extension of the Frisco Trail to Walker park

1.8 mile Tas La Gi, Frisco Trail to Hollywood Ave

3 mile Clear Creek, Lake Fayetteville to Scull Creek

 

Thanks!  I live near the Frisco, Tse-La-Gi, Walker Park, and Town Branch trails and had been wondering about the timeline for opening.

[Mith242]

Article yesterday on parts of the trail system expected to open this year (paywalled):  http://www.nwaonline.com/news/2014/jan/25/new-fayetteville-trail-construction-tap/?news-arkansas-nwa-fayetteville

 

2.8 mile Town Branch, Razorback Road to City Lake Road

0.5 mile extension of the Frisco Trail to Walker park

1.8 mile Tas La Gi, Frisco Trail to Hollywood Ave

3 mile Clear Creek, Lake Fayetteville to Scull Creek

The Clear Creek Trail is just about complete.  Really the only section left is where it will hook up with the Lake Fayetteville Trail.  They opened up a section of the trail late last year close to where one of the towers northwest of the NWA Mall.  Pretty sure it's completed past 71B, but don't think they'll open up anymore until they have the whole thing completed.

[JamesE]

I wonder how the Tse-La-Gi trail will work around the current mess between Hill Ave and S Government.  The UofA's art district is being developed there, so it will be a big construction site sometime within the next year.  Currently, it's an abandoned warehouse district and unpaved road; putting in the trail will be neccesary to link the current construction by the COOP to the existing trail over on Hill Place to Razorbackback Rd. 

[Mith242]

I wonder how the Tse-La-Gi trail will work around the current mess between Hill Ave and S Government.  The UofA's art district is being developed there, so it will be a big construction site sometime within the next year.  Currently, it's an abandoned warehouse district and unpaved road; putting in the trail will be neccesary to link the current construction by the COOP to the existing trail over on Hill Place to Razorbackback Rd. 

Guess we'll just have to see.  But could be a little like how things are going on the western end of the Meadow Valley Trail near the Porter Rd/I-540 interchange.  There's a lot of construction work going on in the area with the widening of I-540 there.  For a while had to dodge construction vehicles on the trail a lot.  It's not as bad now, but I expect construction to ramp up in the near future when it warms up.

[Mith242]

I wonder how the Tse-La-Gi trail will work around the current mess between Hill Ave and S Government.  The UofA's art district is being developed there, so it will be a big construction site sometime within the next year.  Currently, it's an abandoned warehouse district and unpaved road; putting in the trail will be neccesary to link the current construction by the COOP to the existing trail over on Hill Place to Razorbackback Rd. 

Well if it's any indication, they've shut down the Meadow Valley Trail now under I-540 now that they're doing more serious construction work.  So we might end up with having a trail there only to then be shut down for a while because of construction.

[aerotive]

Saw that too.  For not much reason, at least when I went by it...there was one private car parked on the trail, along with the barriers.  Hopefully they get it reopened quickly.

[Mith242]

Saw that too.  For not much reason, at least when I went by it...there was one private car parked on the trail, along with the barriers.  Hopefully they get it reopened quickly.

I don't know, I think it could be closed for a while.  It may not be closed for the whole construction period.  But I think the I-540 widening project could take a while and might very well have that section of trail closed for a while.  Granted it's basically at the very end of the trail.  

[JamesE]

The new bridges for the Frisco and Tse-La-Gi trails are looking pretty good; the tunnel under MLK is open.  The bike path leading up to the tunnel behind the Mill hasn't been poured yet, but the forms are ready to go.