Razorback Greenway grows into Bella Vista
The Razorback Greenway is making its way into Bella Vista.
The trail’s new 12-foot-wide section will head approximately 2,700 feet north from Lake Bella Vista, alongside the Veterans Wall of Honor and on the west side of Mercy Bella Vista to reach Mercy Way, with a 10-foot-wide spur running east alongside Cooper Elementary and ending at the entrance to Blowing Springs.
The trail will use a high-visibility crossing to cross Dartmoor Road and reach Cooper Elementary.
Erin Rushing, executive director for Northwest Arkansas Trailblazers, said he expects the $948,032 project — which was funded by the Walton Family Foundation with agreements from the cities of Bentonville and Bella Vista to maintain the trail — to be completed in Spring or early Summer of 2018.
“It’s neat, they need it,” Rushing said. “Bella Vista really doesn’t have a whole lot for a sidewalk network or a paved trail network, so this is really exciting.”
These connections are helpful, he said, for getting people into Bella Vista. The high-visibility crossing, he said, is also going to benefit elementary students crossing the street to get to school.
Moreover, he said, this gives the school a safer, easier way to take students to Lake Bella Vista and the Veterans Wall of Honor.
“Hopefully we’ll keep it going North in the future,” Rushing said.
Mayor Peter Christie said he was excited to see the trail move into his city.
“It certainly shows our commitment and the commitment of the Walton Family Foundation to having a very active way of life,” he said. “To be able to get out more is always a good thing.”
The ongoing project with the Mercy Way Bridge, he said, could result in a bridge with pedestrian accommodations that
could allow the trail to cross Little Sugar Creek and continue moving north, alongside Sugar Creek Center. If the POA allows trails to be built on its land in the Berksdale Golf Course area, he said, the trail may continue to run alongside the creek and, ultimately, reach the state line.
It should also wind under U.S. Highway 71, he said, to provide access to a trailhead that the city intends to build alongside Riordan Road in 2018 to provide an access point to the upcoming 53 miles of soft-surface trail on the West side of town. That trail network, he said, is approximately 97 percent designed at this point and its construction could begin as early as next year.
“The hope is … sometime in 2020, 2021, we can extend the greenway all the way to the Riordan Trailhead,” he said. “But the short term is ‘let’s get them to Blowing Springs.’”
Having a pedestrian and cyclist friendly way into Blowing Springs, he said, could help more people access the park, where parking is often at a premium on weekends.
It also provides a good avenue for people to move between Bentonville and Bella Vista, he said. That connectivity, he said, is beneficial for the community and can help area businesses. A property next to a major trail, he said, can be prime commercial land.
“It’s definitely good for economic development, it’s definitely good for communities to be able to reach in to neighboring communities,” he said. “I’m just really ecstatic, the trails are the lifeblood of Bella Vista, along with the amenities that the POA has brought over the years.”
Cory Bolain, a mountain biker from Rogers, sat down for a pint at Bella Vista’s lone bike shop, GPP Cycling, while his bike was in for repairs. He’s ridden from Rogers to the shop before, he said, and regularly finds himself coming in for repairs after thrashing out on the trails.
Bolain said he was excited
to see the Greenway growing further into Bella Vista.
“The less a biker has to get on the road, the better,” he said.
Seth Jacobs, the shop’s manager, agreed.
“It’ll make that street a lot less congested,” he said.
It’s also a good avenue to get people into the rest of Bella Vista, he said.
Bolain said he’s not going to stop riding any time soon and he’s glad to see the infrastructure improving.
“It’d be nice if it went all the way to the line… you could make a fishing trip out of it,” he said, noting he has a fishing spot in Little Sugar Creek near the state line that could make for a fun camping trip.
“If you build it, they will ride,” Bolain said. “Man that was cheesy.”
"The hope is … sometime in 2020, 2021, we can extend the greenway all the way to the Riordan Trailhead." Erin Rushing Executive director Northwest Arkansas Trailblazers