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Razorback Greenway and other NWA Trail Systems


Mith242

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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. 

Darn I missed that on my bicycle ride earlier today.  I opted to head north towards Lake Fayetteville instead.  And weather may not cooperate with me tomorrow.  I had noticed they tore out the small section of trail just north of the MLK tunnel.  Really wasn't sure why.  The only thing I could think of is that it must have gotten torn up during the construction process by all the big machinery.

As a side note, I keep hoping to see that they've opened a part of the future Clear Creek Trail (not sure if this name is official or not) near the cell phone tower near the NWA Mall to 71B.  But nothing so far.  I have noticed they've poured some concrete on where the future trail connects up to the Lake Fayetteville Trail near the spillway.  But couldn't tell anything has happened on the section just east of 71B yet.  I was thinking officially the trail was supposed to be open sometime in April.  But often times they tend to open the trail a few weeks before the grand opening.  So I'm hoping the new trail might be open sometime later this month now that it's officially March.

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I ran by there yesterday morning a little after 7am and there was a guy doing dirt work on the path leading to the tunnel on the north side. Impressive to see him working on it that early. The tunnel is awesome. Attractive and functional. Looks like it shouldn't be long before the path on the north side will be finished.

The bridge on the south side was blocked off but it looks like a lot of progress has been made.

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I ran by there yesterday morning a little after 7am and there was a guy doing dirt work on the path leading to the tunnel on the north side. Impressive to see him working on it that early. The tunnel is awesome. Attractive and functional. Looks like it shouldn't be long before the path on the north side will be finished.

The bridge on the south side was blocked off but it looks like a lot of progress has been made.

I haven't gotten a very good look of the MLK tunnel.  But the one thing I was concerned about is that it seemed like there was a very sharp curve on the south side of the tunnel.  I've had lots of problems on the sharp curve near the Gregg St tunnel.  A lot of people tend to try to be lazy and cut that corner.  I'm wondering if that might be a potential problem over there as well.  But as I said, haven't actually been on it.  But seemed like there was a 45 degree corner on the south side of the tunnel from what I could see from the street.

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I haven't gotten a very good look of the MLK tunnel.  But the one thing I was concerned about is that it seemed like there was a very sharp curve on the south side of the tunnel.  I've had lots of problems on the sharp curve near the Gregg St tunnel.  A lot of people tend to try to be lazy and cut that corner.  I'm wondering if that might be a potential problem over there as well.  But as I said, haven't actually been on it.  But seemed like there was a 45 degree corner on the south side of the tunnel from what I could see from the street.

 

It definitely does look like that (I didn't go through it) and I agree with your concerns. Another one is around the Frisco trail near Wilson Park. I just keep waiting for a collision. Certainly better than crossing streets but could've been done better.

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Darn I missed that on my bicycle ride earlier today.  I opted to head north towards Lake Fayetteville instead.  And weather may not cooperate with me tomorrow.  I had noticed they tore out the small section of trail just north of the MLK tunnel.  Really wasn't sure why.  The only thing I could think of is that it must have gotten torn up during the construction process by all the big machinery.

As a side note, I keep hoping to see that they've opened a part of the future Clear Creek Trail (not sure if this name is official or not) near the cell phone tower near the NWA Mall to 71B.  But nothing so far.  I have noticed they've poured some concrete on where the future trail connects up to the Lake Fayetteville Trail near the spillway.  But couldn't tell anything has happened on the section just east of 71B yet.  I was thinking officially the trail was supposed to be open sometime in April.  But often times they tend to open the trail a few weeks before the grand opening.  So I'm hoping the new trail might be open sometime later this month now that it's officially March.

 

I think the reason the concrete was removed is due to the grade of the slope.  My pups and I examined the new forms shortly before the snow fell; it drops quite a bit very quickly.  The new tunnel is nice; it's short enough that it doesn't get too dark.  I walked on the new trails by foot; there's still a lot of debris on the trail, so it's probably best to wait a few months before it will be ready for bike traffic.

 

The beacon crossing is partially installed accross S School.  There are three bridges total between the tunnel and Walker park.  One of the bridges didn't yet have a road surface the last time I looked, but it's ready to pour once we have nice weather.

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I think the reason the concrete was removed is due to the grade of the slope.  My pups and I examined the new forms shortly before the snow fell; it drops quite a bit very quickly.  The new tunnel is nice; it's short enough that it doesn't get too dark.  I walked on the new trails by foot; there's still a lot of debris on the trail, so it's probably best to wait a few months before it will be ready for bike traffic.

 

The beacon crossing is partially installed accross S School.  There are three bridges total between the tunnel and Walker park.  One of the bridges didn't yet have a road surface the last time I looked, but it's ready to pour once we have nice weather.

Good point.  I hadn't considered the grade difference.  But yes, the tunnels the city has actually built have been nice.  I think the reason some don't think much of them over all is because most of them ones built by AHTD and weren't really intended for trail use.  Thanks for the trail update.  I don't get down to that part of Fayetteville as often as other areas.

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I ran through the tunnel yesterday. The new sidewalk is all complete except for a few feet where is connects to the street.

As mentioned earlier, there is still a lot of debris but it's passable even by bike if you watch where you're going.

The turns are a bit sharp but not too bad.

It's great to have this usable now. Can't wait for more of the southern route!

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Not sure if this should go in the trail or road thread, but the bike lanes on Crossover between Township and Joyce are horribly inadequate.  Need to be much wider, really there needs to be a concrete or steel barrier.  Just don't get how that design ever got past the initial planning stage.  The speed and volume of traffic makes using them terrifying. 

 

One other thing, the official city bike map has the north sidewalk on Joyce, between Vantage and Crossover, marked as "high comfort level and ease of use".  Definitely misclassifed, there's too many curb cuts for that kind of rating.

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When AHTD started allowing the city of Fayetteville to use basically culverts as tunnels for the Fayetteville Trail system.  They've always been rather stubborn on not allowing hardly any changes to be made.  As a result one of the problems with these tunnels is that they are dimly lit.  I'm guessing it has something to do with the Razorback Greenway.  But looks like Fayetteville is putting in new lighting for the Gregg St tunnel and the Fulbright Expressway tunnel on the Scull Creek Trail.  The Gregg St tunnel is already finished.  Although it's a short tunnel because it's an east-west tunnel it's always seemed rather dark.  They put a light sensor on it so that it always turned off during the day.  Though the tunnel is rather short  having a dimly lit tunnel and throw in that very sharp curve.  It's always been a problem area.  And it also looks like they're about three-fourths of the way complete in the Fulbright Expressway tunnel.  I know better lighting will be very welcome for the longest pedestrian tunnel in the state.  With the tunnel being only partially completed with the new lighting it's very easy to see the huge difference with the new overhead lighting.  I wonder if the AHTD will ever let the city make some other changes to that tunnel in the future.  The Fulbright Expressway tunnel has always had problems with water and mud.

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When I went by this weekend it looked like they still had the Clear Creek Trail fenced off near the big bridge over Clear Creek a bit northwest of the NWA Mall.  But when I went by today I noticed all the fencing had been moved.  Looks like they may have the open open for use.  At least up to College Ave.  I wasn't quite able to make it that far.  There are still workers out.  On that section of trail looks like mostly just landscaping work.  But at one point they have heavy machinery out and there really wasn't an easy way to get around them so I turned back.  But I don't think I was too far away from 71 B.  Looks like the spur off to the NWA Mall is open now as well.  When I drove by last Friday still doesn't looked like it's been paved east of 71 B yet.  Although from the Lake Fayetteville Trail it appears to be paved for as far as I could see.  The Grand Opening for the trail is set for April 14th I believe.  But it sounds like the trail should be pretty much ready to go by April 1st.

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Well looks like I spoke too soon.  After going on the new section of the Clear Creek Trail, they've got it blocked back off again.  I had asked one of the workers if it was open for good now.  But apparently not.  Guess we'll have to wait a little longer.  Although shouldn't be too long before it and the whole thing to Lake Fayetteville should be open.  But in better news, the new lighting is finished in the Fulbright Expressway Tunnel.  I really can't emphasize the big difference there is.  I've had sunglasses on and it's still very well lit.  With the old lighting you really could only see right around each individual light.  

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Saw a story on KNWA today about a Springdale section of the Razorback Greenway.  In one area there wasn't enough room to widen a sidewalk into the trail.  So instead they took away a turn lane out of a road and put in trail.  Unlike bicycle lanes, all the trail traffic is one one side of the road.  There isn't a concrete barrier.  Just some of those tall markers that stand up.  There used to be some on the bicycle lanes on Front St in Fayetteville.  Until a snow plow mowed them all down a few winters ago.  Hopefully that will be enough.  It is just a two lane road and sounds like there's a school also located on that road.  So you'd hope vehicular traffic shouldn't be too big of a problem.  But I think this will show that Springdale's section of the Razorback Greenway will be a bit different from what I've seen of the other NWA cities' sections.  I believe quite a bit of Springdale's section will be more like a widened sidewalk on the side of some of the roads.  May not seem quite as nice as some of the other sections.  But I guess if I want the Fayetteville connected with the others cities I'll have to take it.

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Saw a story on KNWA today about a Springdale section of the Razorback Greenway.  In one area there wasn't enough room to widen a sidewalk into the trail.  So instead they took away a turn lane out of a road and put in trail.  Unlike bicycle lanes, all the trail traffic is one one side of the road.  There isn't a concrete barrier.  Just some of those tall markers that stand up.  There used to be some on the bicycle lanes on Front St in Fayetteville.  Until a snow plow mowed them all down a few winters ago.  Hopefully that will be enough.  It is just a two lane road and sounds like there's a school also located on that road.  So you'd hope vehicular traffic shouldn't be too big of a problem.  But I think this will show that Springdale's section of the Razorback Greenway will be a bit different from what I've seen of the other NWA cities' sections.  I believe quite a bit of Springdale's section will be more like a widened sidewalk on the side of some of the roads.  May not seem quite as nice as some of the other sections.  But I guess if I want the Fayetteville connected with the others cities I'll have to take it.

Yep. 

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It looks like Greenland and West Fork are looking at possibly working towards hooking into the Razorback Greenway.  I could see Farmington getting on board at some point in the future, too.

I heard about that too.  I've heard a little in the past about the possibility of other towns joining into the Razorback Greenway.  But I think this is the first time I've heard it mentioned as a more serious matter.  Sounded more like more of a matter of time not if.  At some point they mentioned they'd like to see every town over 1,000 people joined up to the Razorback Greenway.  Maybe that's feasible, but I think that's going to be pretty far off into the future.  Just trying to hook up Siloam Springs I think is going to be a challenge.  One other thing mentioned that I haven't heard before was the possibility of connecting Devil's Den State Park.  That would be interesting, but challenging as well.  Especially if we're talking about a paved trail.

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I heard about that too.  I've heard a little in the past about the possibility of other towns joining into the Razorback Greenway.  But I think this is the first time I've heard it mentioned as a more serious matter.  Sounded more like more of a matter of time not if.  At some point they mentioned they'd like to see every town over 1,000 people joined up to the Razorback Greenway.  Maybe that's feasible, but I think that's going to be pretty far off into the future.  Just trying to hook up Siloam Springs I think is going to be a challenge.  One other thing mentioned that I haven't heard before was the possibility of connecting Devil's Den State Park.  That would be interesting, but challenging as well.  Especially if we're talking about a paved trail.

 

In Alaska, I remember seeing trails alongside highways over large areas between Anchorage and outlying towns.  It would be cool to see something like that here, but I don't know how much value we would get from spending the money on construction and maintenance.  

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Was out near the intersection of 15th and Crossover and noticed they have put in more of the useless, way too narrow bike lanes.  Just don't see many people ever using them given the volume and speed of traffic.  And low usage will only make them more dangerous for the few willing to risk it.

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It's still in the early stages.  But it does appear that eventually there will be a new floor put into the Fulbright Expressway Tunnel on the Scull Creek Trail in Fayetteville.  As I've mentioned before.  When the city was given permission to use some of the existing culverts as tunnels for the trail system, AHTD's stance was that only very minor changes could be made, like minimum lighting installed and the culverts had to basically be used as is.  But sounds like that stance has softened.  They've already allowed more and improved lighting to be installed.  Now apparently they seem to be willing to accept changes to be made on the current floor of that particular tunnel.  But of course AHTD still has to approve any designs.  So this could still be a drawn out process.  

Sounds like the ribbon cutting for the Clear Creek Trail is set for April 12th.  Usually the trail is generally open to the public a couple of weeks before the ribbon cutting.  But I went by today and it's still closed off at the usual spot.  I suppose the weather we had this past winter complicated matters and may have pushed things back.  But sounds like they are staying firm on the ribbon cutting.  

I haven't been by but sounds like the crossing for the southern extension of the Frisco Trail for 71B is being put in this week.  The northern end of the MLK Tunnel is still closed off.  But if you simply cross MLK you can access the trail from there.  Didn't go all the way this past weekend but looks like it's basically open all the way down to 71B.  Perhaps further, but I didn't try going any further.  But hopefully won't be too much longer before the Clear Creek and the southern extension of the Frisco Trail will be open in Fayetteville.

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The northern end of the MLK Tunnel is still closed off.  But if you simply cross MLK you can access the trail from there.  Didn't go all the way this past weekend but looks like it's basically open all the way down to 71B.  Perhaps further, but I didn't try going any further.  But hopefully won't be too much longer before the Clear Creek and the southern extension of the Frisco Trail will be open in Fayetteville.

They were cleaning the new path last weekend with a machine but that one little bit right at Prairie St is still dirt. There is some sort of drainage cover there. I wonder if that's the cause of the delay in finishing?

 

I also saw where there is a new pedestrian crossing on S. School, similar to the North St crossing. Nice to see the trail development on the south side of town.

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Was out near the intersection of 15th and Crossover and noticed they have put in more of the useless, way too narrow bike lanes.  Just don't see many people ever using them given the volume and speed of traffic.  And low usage will only make them more dangerous for the few willing to risk it.

 

Actually tried these lanes rather than just look at them, not as bad as I'd thought.  They don't go very far at the moment, but they are somewhat wider rather I thought and the speed limit is lower than I expected, 35 instead of 45.

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They were cleaning the new path last weekend with a machine but that one little bit right at Prairie St is still dirt. There is some sort of drainage cover there. I wonder if that's the cause of the delay in finishing?

 

I also saw where there is a new pedestrian crossing on S. School, similar to the North St crossing. Nice to see the trail development on the south side of town.

Yeah the pedestrian crossing is the southern Frisco Trail extension I was referring too.  It will connect up to Walker Park.  I didn't cross 71B, so I'm not sure how far the actual trail extends at the moment.

Actually tried these lanes rather than just look at them, not as bad as I'd thought.  They don't go very far at the moment, but they are somewhat wider rather I thought and the speed limit is lower than I expected, 35 instead of 45.

Still haven't seen these yet.  Don't get over to that part of town too often.

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They were cleaning the new path last weekend with a machine but that one little bit right at Prairie St is still dirt. There is some sort of drainage cover there. I wonder if that's the cause of the delay in finishing?

 

I also saw where there is a new pedestrian crossing on S. School, similar to the North St crossing. Nice to see the trail development on the south side of town.

Yeah I'm pretty sure the city is purposely not doing that little section of trail by Prairie St to try to keep some people off the trail.  But it's such a small section that it's really not much of incentive to keep people away.  It's easy to get around it and even if you chose not to go that route.  You can still easily access the trail by crossing MLK.  Speaking of which, I checked out the rest of the southern extension of the Frisco Trail.  Except for that little section near Prairie St it's all paved.  There's still some debris out in some areas.  They're still installing lamp posts. There's no lighting in the MLK Tunnel yet.  They're still working on the pedestrian crossing on 71 B.  And there's also landscaping work that needs to be done.  But the trail is still pretty much ready for pedestrian use.  Connects all the way to Walker Park, where then you can access the trail in the park.  The trail there isn't up to the trail system's standards.  But gives you a little more to add on if you wanted.  Shouldn't be too much longer before the southern extension of the Frisco Trail and the Clear Creek Trail to be 'officially' open.  Sounds like the city is already starting to move over to doing more work on the future Tsa-La-Gi Trail.  It's going to connect up somewhere to the southern extension of the Frisco Trail.  Then this summer I think the city will move westward and start focusing on the Shiloh Trail and hook it up to the Meadow Valley Trail and the Hamestring Creek Trail.

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I pass by the section under construction on Goad Springs Road in Lowell often, slowly making progress there. This area to the south when completed will tie into the Hunt Park area of Springdale but will have to cross. Wagon Wheel Rd. to get there.

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I pass by the section under construction on Goad Springs Road in Lowell often, slowly making progress there. This area to the south when completed will tie into the Hunt Park area of Springdale but will have to cross. Wagon Wheel Rd. to get there.

I believe some of the sections near Lowell will be the last to be completed for the Razorback Greenway.  

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