Springdale trail adviser to guide city
Position dedicated to ‘active transportation’ oversees planning, construction
SPRINGDALE — Tom Dederich straps on a helmet and hops on his bicycle each morning for a 3-mile ride from his home to work as a math teacher at Springdale High School.
The city has added to its Planning Department a position dedicated to “active transportation” such as Dederich’s and named a committee to help guide the city’s decision in this area.
The city this spring hired Mike Peters, who retired as the city’s police chief at the end of January, as the active transportation planner. The position pays $38,600, according to the city’s Human Resources Department.
Peters will oversee trail construction, work to obtain easements for trails from property owners and work with the Engineering Department and other groups to design trails.
Peters uses the trails himself, said Patsy Christie, director of the city’s Planning Department.
“And he has a better understanding of Springdale as a community than anyone does, and he’s great with people,” she said.
“Active transportation is any self-propelled, human-powered mode of transportation,” reads a description written for committee members.
The committee will help determine the city’s trail development, the integration of the trails into other city capital projects, education about trails and advocacy.
Dean LaGrone, committee chairman, on Wednesday voiced frustration with what he considers a lack of city support and funding for trails.
“We’re falling behind the other cities in the region,” he said.
Springdale has 15 miles of mixed-use, hard surface trails. Fayetteville has 50, Rogers 46 and Bentonville 37. S0ft surface trails, such as Springdale’s mountain bike trails, are not included in the count.
“This group needs to act as an adviser and talk to officials about the importance of trails, the quality of life,” Christie said. “They need to hear someone other than city staff say that and present them with priorities.”
The city started a Trails Committee about 10 years ago, a few years before the Razorback Greenway was built, explained Chris Weiser, chairman of that committee. The group had no money or sway with the City Council, which makes decisions about spending money, Weiser said.
Trail projects were mostly funded by grants from the Walton Family Foundation and the Arkansas Department of Transportation, he said.
The committee stopped meeting during the covid-19 pandemic, Weiser said, but has been revived and retooled into the Active Transportation Committee.
Christie said active transportation is important if Springdale is going to be a player in Northwest Arkansas and the city needs strategies on how to improve them.
“It’s not just trails,” Christie said. “It will be working with Ozark Transit to put stops along the trails and looking for places where we can add sidewalks or trails to connect to other trails or the schools.”
Mayor Doug Sprouse agreed.
“We need to focus on our pedestrian-bicycle infrastructure.”
“We have a good trail system, but people have to drive to get there,” Christie said.
TOE THE LINE
The city’s 2022 budget included $4.2 million for trails, said Cody Loerts, the city’s assistant manager of finance. The city spent $1.6 million on trails in 2021.
The city each year puts $1 million for trails into the Public Works Department budget.
Funding for the trails has come from various grants from the Walton Family Foundation and the Arkansas Department of Transportation.
The state grants money from the federal Transportation Alternatives Program focused on smaller-scale transportation projects such as pedestrian and bicycle facilities, recreational trails and safe routes to school.
The city’s Parks and Recreation Department handles mowing and maintenance of the trails through its budget.
LaGrone noted in Wednesday’s first meeting of the committee that a mile of trail costs roughly $1 million to build, but a trail must stretch at least 7 miles to be “meaningful.”
Weiser said trails need a good, steady funding source — “such as a line item in the city budget.” The budget $1 million doesn’t go far, he said.
Members of the Active Transportation Committee suggested funding trails with a “hamburger tax,” a tax collected on sales of prepared foods, which usually benefits the city’s tourism industry.
“I mentioned a hamburger tax, and I got laughed at,” Weiser said.
Christie noted with the high price of gasoline, she doubted city officials would levy another tax right now.
“I know what our goals are,” LaGrone said. “But how will we get there without any funding?”
CATCH-UP STRATEGIES
Sprouse listed ways the city has funded — and will continue to fund — trail development, including bond issues, matching money for grants and money from the city’s general budget.
All street improvements built with 2018 bond money include a 12-foot multiuse sidewalk next to the street, giving pedestrians and cyclists room to travel safely out of traffic, Sprouse said.
The city also has added marked and protected bicycle lanes to existing infrastructure, as on West Maple Avenue in front of Northwest Medical Center and the public library, he said.
A bridge across Interstate 49 to connect Har-Ber Avenue and Emma Avenue will feature a side bridge for pedestrians and cyclists, if voters approve a new street bond issue in late 2023 or 2024, Sprouse said.
The eight-member City Council approves all spending for the city, including matching grant money and street, park and trail projects, Sprouse said.
Christie said she expects more money for trails from the state’s Transportation Department and maybe the Walton Family Foundation.
Bentonville does not have a big budget for trails, said Hunter Garrison, the bike and pedestrian planner for Bentonville, a job similar to Peters’. He said he has been in the job since September.
Garrison said he spends time writing grants to help implement the city’s active transportation plan. He also identifies needs for on-street bicycle infrastructure and sidewalks.
The city’s big goal is reconnecting parts of the Razorback Greenway, Garrison said. The many construction projects in the city have closed parts of the trail through his town.
“We want to put it back together,” he said.
Bentonville also has a vision to create a greenway loop of the city limits, he said. The city has just started creating a strategy to help get that loop. The city also is considering locations where protected bike lanes are needed.
Garrison noted a city requirement that if a developer builds on any area the city has identified for a trail that is included in the city’s master plan, the developer must build the trail to city specifications.
Fayetteville is definitely setting the pace for trail construction among Northwest Arkansas communities. The active transportation component receives $1.4 million in the city’s yearly budget for capital improvements, said Dane Eifling, the city’s mobility coordinator. The city also relies on grants to fund trails.
Fayetteville also budgets salaries for a construction crew dedicated to trails, he said.
“We rely on city labor,” Eifling said. “We don’t contract that work out, which makes it much less expensive.”
The city also relies on a citizen advisory committee for trails.
SAFE RIDE
Dederich said he appreciates the opportunity to be active during his commutes each day. He added his family has a history of heart problems, and he hopes the exercise helps.
“But I really also enjoy the ride,” he said.
A bonus is that he builds a rapport with his students over cycling.
“They think it’s cool that this old man rides,” said the 59-year-old Dederich.
Dederich also said a ride to Lake Fayetteville after a rough day with the students gets rid of stress.
He noted a student saw him one day, noting the fast pace Dederich had set.
“They had no idea what I was working out,” he laughed. “I told them it keeps them safe.”