Central area trails designed
The city has received a preliminary design for another 40 miles of soft-surface trails in the central portion of the town, on the West side of U.S. Highway 71.
Erin Rushing, executive director with Northwest Arkansas Trailblazers, said that the design has been in progress for a while and started with the regional trail master plan, which was put together by Alta, a design firm he worked for before joining the Trailblazers.
Throughout this process, he said, he’s been grateful for contemporary technology.
“We can go into these corridors and really define where we can put these trails — we can’t just put them anywhere,” Rushing said. “The biggest challenge in Bella Vista is topography. Where can we put trails in POA common property that are safe?”
The current draft shows a main loop winding around Lake Avalon and Lake Windsor, landing at Riordan Hall on its eastern end and swinging far enough west to brush against Loch Lomond. The trail extends to Bella Vista’s southern border and heads far enough north to straddle the state line.
The preliminary map also shows connector trails that run alongside Arkansas Highway 340, Chelsea Road and Camden Road, to name a few.
The plan is put together with help from trail builders, Rushing said, who have an in-depth knowledge of what kind of terrain trails can and can’t pass through.
“They truly are artists,” he said. “The design of West Side is more challenging and more expensive because of two state highways.”
One possible solution, he said, was to use tunnels rather than crosswalks like the Back 40 trails have. These could be more expensive, he said, but they would also separate riders and bikers from cars and trucks.
Chris Suneson, director of the Community Development Services Department, said he suspects that increase in cost would be worthwhile.
“When these two modes of transportation don’t have to meet,” he said, “it’s safer for everyone.”
The tunnel, he said, would essentially be a pipe running under the road, with solar-powered lamps. While the initial construction could be more expensive, he said, these lamps would be simpler to maintain than the existing crossings used on the Back 40 trails, which should make it less costly over time.
It’s important to note, he said, that this is a conceptual plan right now. There isn’t a budget for construction yet, he said, and it’s hard to say when or how that might change.
“It’s very, very conceptual,” he said.
While there isn’t money for construction yet, Rushing said he expects this system will be built in the foreseeable future.
“Next step is trying to find funding for it,” Rushing said. “And I think with the Back 40 as successful as it has been, I truly think that another 40 miles could be sustainable, I really do.”