Razorback Greenway and other NWA Trail Systems

[nikk4s]

A little more to update.  Looks like they got a bridge over Puppy Creek north of Springdale and are working on the section along Puppy Creek/Goad Springs Rd.  Also, they have begun work on the section from Pump Station Rd to Lake Sprindale.  No idea how much is done between there and the 71b crossing, might get adventurous next weekend.

[Mith242]

A little more to update.  Looks like they got a bridge over Puppy Creek north of Springdale and are working on the section along Puppy Creek/Goad Springs Rd.  Also, they have begun work on the section from Pump Station Rd to Lake Sprindale.  No idea how much is done between there and the 71b crossing, might get adventurous next weekend.

 

Sunday was nice so headed back up and explored a little further.  Aside from some work being done just north of Huntsville Rd didn't really see anything else that looked different from a few weeks ago.  Still not paved under Hwy 71 and still barricaded not too far northwest of Hwy 71.  Just wish they would start connecting some of these sections.  I forgot to mention this before but did notice they had just finished moving and making a new fence on the north side of Don Tyson Prkwy.  At least on Hwy 412 East you can see where they'll be pouring the concrete soon.  Although I don't think those stoplights at that intersection have any pedestrian buttons on them.  

[Mith242]

Before I forget again, thought I'd post some updates on some future plans for the Fayetteville Trail system.  Sometime in 2015 the city will extend the Clabber Creek Trail in west Fayetteville.  Right now it's not connected to the rest of the trail system yet.  One interesting thing about this extension is that it sounds like there's going to be a boardwalk design for at least a portion of it.  It will eventually connect up to the Shiloh Trail, although I think that's going to probably happen at a later date than 2015.  

By Spring of 2015 the Razorback Greenway should be complete including the extension of the Frisco Trail south of 15th then connecting up to the Town Branch Creek Trail then extending westward to Greathouse Park.  Well then in Spring 2015 the city will continue work of Town Branch Creek Trail westward to Razorback Rd.  Looks like they'll put in the same type of crossing at they have on S School on the Frisco Trail for Razorback Rd.  Then in the Fall of 2015 work will continue on the same trail further westward to Hollywood.  

The city will work on a design for the Cato Springs Trail for 2015 with the actual construction taking place in 2016.  This will be the connection in south Fayetteville for the trail system over towards the Mt Kessler area where the city purchased land earlier in 2014.

I still haven't ever really heard too many details about this.  But the city has had plans for the Gordon Long Park area for the Scull Creek Trail.  Putting in more of a 'trailhead' and also putting in a cycletrack.  But sounds like the cycletrack is being put off for now so more funds can be moved towards making a trailhead near Gordon Long Park.

The city has been working on trying to make some sort of connection over to the Evelyn Hills Shopping Center, through the VA.  Park of it might be actual trail but sounds like quite a bit of it will probably be shared-road bikeway.  

There's also a small section of trail over by the Poplar/Gregg intersection planned for 2015.  I think the main idea for this is to have better access for pedestrians from the school westward across Gregg then using Poplar St to then access the actual trail system.

[Mith242]

Even though it's been a bit of a cool, damp and misty day I went ahead and headed up to Springdale to check on progress of the Razorback Greenway.  Wasn't able to check on a couple of areas because there were people actually out working on it even though it's a Saturday.  They were out on the areas north of Huntsville Rd and also the section under 71B.  Also wasn't able to check out some areas around downtown Springdale because apparently there's some festival going on and some of the downtown roads are closed.  Tried the sidewalks a bit but there was enough people out that trying to get around on bicycle wasn't working too well.  There's been some more paving around the bridge near what I believe is called Luther George Park, over by Park St and Meadow.  Although the pavement ends not too far northwest of the bridge.  There's been more paving on Powell St north of Hwy412 East.  But there's still a number of gaps.  Maybe they're trying to keep people off some sections until more of the trail is completed in some areas.  But anyway, it's getting closer to Caudle.  It's now paved on both sides of Hwy 412 East but the northern section is barricaded.  But the south side is now done.  I didn't notice it before but there are buttons for pedestrians to use to help cross Hwy 412.  I also finally noticed they're doing work just north of the Don Tyson Prkwy.  That small section is been the only section left south of Hwy 412.  

[Mith242]

Just one more small update.  Went down to south Fayetteville.  They've cleared most of the trees and you can now see the opening where the Town Branch Creek Trail will extend eastward from where it currently stops near 71B.  A big pile of debris left to discourage people, but if you had a mountain bike you could probably check it out.  Pretty sure there would be a future bridge somewhere along there so you wouldn't be able to go all the way over to 15th St.  

[Mith242]

Just a couple of minor updates.  I mentioned a little while back about Fayetteville clearing some vegetation on the Mud Creek Trail.  Looks like the city is doing even more of it around the northern sections of the Lake Fayetteville Trail.  I haven't really ever heard it being mentioned so I don't know the details.  But over all I think they're trying to raise visibility around some of the curves of the trails.  In some areas I was a little surprised how much they've cleared out.  Over all it seems like they're trying to leave some of the bigger trees but clearing out some of the smaller trees and all the underbrush.

I've also noticed lots of the Razorback Greenway signs going up around the Fayetteville area of the Greenway as well recently.

[aerotive]

Yeah I saw that clearing they did around Lake Fayetteville.  Took quite a bit out.

 

Went north of 412 on the trail for the first time last week.  There are pedestrian buttons at 412 but no marked crossings yet.  Made it up to Caudle, from there the trail is still dirt so I turned back.  Few unfinished spots here and there but easy to thread around.

 

Also the bit of trail that runs parallel to 49 has been fixed.  They're building a car dealership out there and it had done significant damage...earth had sheared away, you had to use a poorly marked detour.  Least it's back to normal.  The trail that runs under the 49/Porter intersection is still closed.

[Mith242]

Yeah I saw that clearing they did around Lake Fayetteville.  Took quite a bit out.

 

Went north of 412 on the trail for the first time last week.  There are pedestrian buttons at 412 but no marked crossings yet.  Made it up to Caudle, from there the trail is still dirt so I turned back.  Few unfinished spots here and there but easy to thread around.

 

Also the bit of trail that runs parallel to 49 has been fixed.  They're building a car dealership out there and it had done significant damage...earth had sheared away, you had to use a poorly marked detour.  Least it's back to normal.  The trail that runs under the 49/Porter intersection is still closed.

Yeah I had checked out the Springdale section one more time the other weekend when it was warm.  At the time they had filled in quite a few of the missing spots just north of Hwy 412, but yeah still had that one bit left right before Caudle.  Then they had filled the one last spot on Park St, but then tore another spot up for some reason.  I had gone up on a Sunday hoping to at least try to walk my bicycle along the whole trail instead of going around taking to the road in some areas.  But they actually had work crews out.  Don't think I had quite realized it yet until my last trip up there.  But just north of Johnson Ave the trail is elevated but then right before Huntsville Ave the trail drops down so you can go in a tunnel under Huntsville Ave.  It was blocked off but they have paved the trail under 71B.  I was even able to get past the spot a little northwest of there where I've always had to turn around.  They've put guardrails on the bridge there.  It was still barracked off but was able to get my bicycle over the barbed wire fence.  But probably only made it another .75 of a mile before I got to yet another bridge.  Workers were out and figured they might not appreciate me going past the barricade so I turned back around from there.  Hoping we might have a somewhat warm weekend sometime in January so I can check out progress again over there.

[nikk4s]

Took an old mtn bike out to explore some of the trail that isn't able to be seen from the road.  I started out by riding over to the RR crossing.  It looks like they are having to build up a framework to build the trail on there.  From there, I crossed Emma where they have taken out the old steps and ramp on the south side.  They are still working on the boardwalk along the creek.  It looked like they were putting down some sort of decking on it today.  I made my way over to the trail on the north side of Huntsville.  From there, I was able to ride up to Pump Station Rd.  There was a barricade with barbed wire in it just past 71b.  I was glad to be moving slowly enough to see it.  That, and most of the other barricades were laying across the ground.  Some work on the approaches to bridges and finishing retaining walls remains to be done.  Mostly, it seems to be done.  After Pump Station Rd, the path ends before a bridge to connect up to the lake path.  I would have liked to go farther along and see if the path is complete along Puppy Creek, but I had worn myself out pedaling the full suspension Pogo bike.

[nikk4s]

Drove over to St Anthony's on Puppy Creek Rd.  Walked up the trail to where they were working on fencing at the bridge and had the bridge blocked.  Couldn't see much beyond that point, so I'll have to try again in a few weeks.

[Mith242]

Been hearing news of another trail being planned in Springdale recently.  Finally heard more details today.  Looks like Springdale is planning a trail on the east side of town to connect the Jones Center down to the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks in Fayetteville so it can hook up with the rest of the trail system.  

[aerotive]

Recently tried out some bike lanes that  went in awhile back on MLK/Huntsville.  Roughly between Curtis and Happy Hollow.  The lane on the north side of the road is awful, not a bike lane by any standard.  It's too narrow given the speed and frequency of traffic, there's lots of broken and poor quality surface, and just about every driveway it intersects is gravel.

 

The south lane is crummy but somewhat better, just on the edge of being usable.  No poverty driveways that spill gravel onto the street, and the surface is decent.  Still much too narrow though.

 

Has anyone tried the bit of Town Branch that looks like you can get to from Walker Park?  I didn't see a way to get there last time I looked.

[Mith242]

 

Has anyone tried the bit of Town Branch that looks like you can get to from Walker Park?  I didn't see a way to get there last time I looked.

 

Haven't tried from that end.  They've put some gravel down near 71B, for s few hundred feet or so.  Then it turns muddy.  Pretty sure there's eventually going to be a bridge somewhere down there so I'd eventually have to turn back anyway.  

And speaking of trail progress.  With the warmer temps headed up to Springdale to check up on progress on the Razorback Greenway.  Some little sections down here and there but I had been hoping for a little more to have been done.  Believe it's been 3-4 weeks since I've been up there.  Granted maybe the cold weather didn't help either.  The small section around Don Tyson is complete so now you can go all the way from Lake Fayetteville to Hwy 412 East.  But north of there, there's still missing sections.  Seems like a lot of focus has been around the elevated section of trail north of downtown.  But still a lot more to be done before it's usable.

[Mith242]

Don't really know too many details, but sounds like Rogers will be building a loop trail so that users of the Razorback Greenway will have a little better access to downtown Rogers.

[nikk4s]

There's been a lot of work happening in the downtown area this week. It looks like they may have finished paving the RR crossing behind the park. There were 2 small sections left when I last looked and I've seen the concrete trucks back there again. There's been a lot of work being done on the Huntsville crossing area getting ready to tie that in. They've also been working on something in the parking lot south of Emma. I'll try to look around a little more this weekend.

[nikk4s]

We're getting very close to having a trail through Springdale.  The crossing at 412 looks done.  They have finished up past the school on Powell and are working on the corner of Quandt.  It looks like they have a bit more dirt work before they are ready to pour the corner section though.  After that, it looks good across the bridge and they are laying brick where the trail splits to go to the park or continue downtown.  The boardwalk decking is nearly complete.  The bridge leading up to the Lake Springdale loop looked almost done.  They were putting down more concrete on Puppy Creek and are nearly to the highway crossing.  

[aerotive]

Was on that part of the trail over the weekend, yep they've made some progress.  Still lacking a crosswalk on 412.  Also the little white pylons that are being used on Powell are no good...this is 3rd or 4th time in a row that I've seen multiple ones down.  Not sure if it's cars hitting them or just wind.  But they need to be sturdier or attached with something more durable.

 

Made it up to Emma, to a large sign showcasing the Greenway.  Reminded me of a couple of odd policies that Springdale has.  The first is the strange policy of closing the trail from sunset to sunrise.  That makes no sense and I imagine will be ignored in practice, both by the cops and trail users.  Hope it gets formally changed.

 

The other is a note on the sign banning firearms.  The way it was worded, sounded like you can't even carry guns along the trail....I'm not a gun guy, but I don't see how that could stand under current state/federal law.  Similar to the usage hours, it's arbitrary--you can carry guns on the roads beside the trail, and the sidewalks next to the trail, but not the trail itself?

[Mith242]

Was on that part of the trail over the weekend, yep they've made some progress.  Still lacking a crosswalk on 412.  Also the little white pylons that are being used on Powell are no good...this is 3rd or 4th time in a row that I've seen multiple ones down.  Not sure if it's cars hitting them or just wind.  But they need to be sturdier or attached with something more durable.

 

Made it up to Emma, to a large sign showcasing the Greenway.  Reminded me of a couple of odd policies that Springdale has.  The first is the strange policy of closing the trail from sunset to sunrise.  That makes no sense and I imagine will be ignored in practice, both by the cops and trail users.  Hope it gets formally changed.

 

The other is a note on the sign banning firearms.  The way it was worded, sounded like you can't even carry guns along the trail....I'm not a gun guy, but I don't see how that could stand under current state/federal law.  Similar to the usage hours, it's arbitrary--you can carry guns on the roads beside the trail, and the sidewalks next to the trail, but not the trail itself?

With the way the weather has been recently I haven't had a chance to make it up there.  But yes that will be one thing that will be a bit odd is that each city may have different rules for the trail in their city.  Especially for those of us in a city like Fayetteville.  The trails are considered 'alternate' transportation and treated close to the same way an actual street.  

Saw that it looks like they're planning on the official ribbon cutting to be in early May now.  Although if it's like many other cases the trail will be pretty much ready for use sometime before that date.  But no idea how much.

[Mith242]

With the warm weather had a chance to take a ride up to Springdale to check on the progress of the Razorback Greenway.  Much more impressed this time.  There's one small section on Caudle between Powell and Park St still not done.  It looks like much of the downtown section is complete or close to completion but it's still blocked off from basically Emma to Huntsville Ave.  I was even able to make it a lot further past Hwy 71 into northwest Springdale.  Not really sure just how far I went before I finally hit another bridge that was being worked on.  But might have made it into Benton County or at least gotten pretty close to it.  

[Mith242]

Headed back to Springdale.  This time with it being Sunday I was able to access the trail over by Hunstville Ave without any workers there.  Basically the elevated boardwalk is complete.  They just haven't put in street access on Johnson Ave.  But once you're past Emma and Johnson Ave the trail is pretty good.  This time when I got to the incomplete bridge, a couple of joggers told me a couple of streets I could take to get around the bridge and pick the trail back up.  Really the only other problem area is one small area in what I think is Lowell.  It's blocked off but right at the street and easy to get around.  I hadn't planned it but managed to get all the way up to the Pinnacle Hills area.  Stopped at what seemed to be some sort of trailhead not too far from the Best Buy.  Then figured I better head back.  Next really warm spell might have to see if I can go ahead and do the whole trail.  But the trail is further along than I had initially thought.  Mostly a few areas in Springdale, but really not too hard to take to the streets and get around the problem areas.  That and I guess Fayetteville is still working on what's officially going to be the southern end of the Razorback Greenway.

[nikk4s]

They've been making fast progress on that bridge over the creek and up to Lake Springdale.  I don't think it will be much longer.  The crossing that's blocked off is at Hwy 264 (Monroe) which is the midpoint of Lowell's section.  I guess they must be leaving the barricades until they can get some kind of crossing put together.   In cruising by the trail, it was nice to see so many people out on it already.

[Mith242]

They've been making fast progress on that bridge over the creek and up to Lake Springdale.  I don't think it will be much longer.  The crossing that's blocked off is at Hwy 264 (Monroe) which is the midpoint of Lowell's section.  I guess they must be leaving the barricades until they can get some kind of crossing put together.   In cruising by the trail, it was nice to see so many people out on it already.

Yeah I was guessing it was because of the crosswalk at W Monroe.  I should also point out there's still a lot of work to do like landscaping and such.  But over all most of the trail is usable.  And yeah, there were a lot of people out today.  Had I know I would be able to get past that bridge I wouldn't have bothered doing the 10-15 miles down in south Fayetteville and maybe try to do more of the Greenway up in Benton County.  But guess I'll have something to look forward to sometime later when it warms back up again.

[aerotive]

Sounds good.  Matches an article in the paper recently, saying that it's all about 99% done.  Few stretches left and then landscaping, benches, signage etc.  Said the ribbon cutting is supposed to be in May.

[Mith242]

Sounds good.  Matches an article in the paper recently, saying that it's all about 99% done.  Few stretches left and then landscaping, benches, signage etc.  Said the ribbon cutting is supposed to be in May.

Yeah, luckily even though the ribbon cutting is a while off and there's still lots of landscaping and such to do.  The trail itself is really pretty far along.  And as I mentioned earlier, the few sections not done are pretty easy to hit the streets and get around.  

Overall I've been pretty impressed with the trail.  This weekend was the first time I've gotten to see any of the Benton County parts and for that matter first time I've been on a number of the Springdale sections as well.  The main problematic area I see is the stretch of the Greenway on Powell in Springdale.  The trail there is basically down on the roadway.  It's been mentioned previously about the little plastic barriers quickly being mowed down by vehicles.  I've also noticed it hasn't taken long for road debris to build up on the trail section there as well.  But the biggest problem is the traffic.  There's a decent amount of traffic going off and on Powell on the side streets and businesses on the east side.  Even though I was in the right-away I've already had a few vehicles pull out or cut right in front of me.  I'm not sure if it was in Lowell or Rogers but I noticed an area of the trail there that was also in the roadway.  But there they had lots of signs telling vehicular traffic to yield to cyclists and pedestrians.  No such signs in Springdale.  Bot sure if they just haven't stuck them up yet.  Or if it's more of a city issue and Springdale isn't going quite the same lengths as some of the other NWA cities.  That being said, I'm not trying to scare people away from the trail there.  But I just think everyone on that section of trail need to be aware and be prepared to be a 'defensive rider'.

[nikk4s]

That section was in Springdale.