Fayetteville makes plans to add more trails

FAYETTEVILLE — The city plans to build more than 5 miles of new trails and sidewalks this year.

That’s in addition to more than 2,000 linear feet of repaired sidewalks and nearly 15 miles of repaved streets planned for 2024.

The city’s Active Transportation Advisory Committee on Wednesday reviewed the year’s work plans for trails, sidewalks and street overlays. The committee forwarded the lists to the City Council’s Transportation Committee with recommendations for approval. From there, the lists would go on to the full City Council for final approval.

DeLani Bartlette, a member of resident advocacy group Fayetteville Strong, said she felt encouraged by the city’s goal to connect a majority of residents within a 10-minute walk or 3-minute bicycle ride to a trail. Two projects in particular caught her attention.

Bartlette used to live in a neighborhood near Gordon Long Park and lobbied the City Council years ago to put in some kind of trail or sidewalk along Drake Street to the park. The city plans to put a trail on Drake Street to the park this year.

When Bartlette lived there, the area was mostly woods and she said she felt unsafe walking to the park.

“I’m really glad it’s now going to be safer and more accessible for people in that community,” she said.

Another project Bartlette said she’s excited about is the long-awaited Maple Street cycle track project. Bartlette said she commutes along Maple Street to get to work, but that she usually cuts through campus because the street isn’t very bicycle-friendly.

Her only criticism was that she wanted to see more investment in the south part of town. That part of town generally has more low-income residents than others, and adequate pedestrian and bicycle routes are much needed, she said.

The Fayetteville Strong group advocates for more pedestrianand bicycle-friendly projects throughout town and stays in regular contact with members of the active transportation committee and city leaders. Overall, Bartlette said she thinks the group will be pleased with the proposed plans.

“I’m excited and happy for all of these projects,” she said. “I’m really happy to see the city putting more investment in our active transportation infrastructure.”

TRAILS, TRAILS, TRAILS

There are five trail projects on the list, one of which has been waiting for grant money for about seven years. Contractors will build four of the five projects, with city crews constructing one of them.

The project the city refers to as the Maple Street cycle track has been waiting since 2017, said Matt Mihalevich, the city’s active transportation manager. The project will put a two-way, separated bicycle lane on the south side of Maple Street from the Razorback Greenway west to Garland Avenue. New, 8-footwide sidewalks also will go in on the north and south sides of Maple Street. The University of Arkansas, Fayetteville plans to etch the names of graduates onto the pavement as part of the senior walk, he said.

Estimated cost of the Maple Street cycle track is $10 million. A federal Safe Streets for All grant will pay for $7.5 million of the total, with the city and university both paying $1.25 million as matching contributions.

The city hopes to finish the Midtown corridor project this year, Mihalevich said. The project has been in development since 2019.

The project spans about 2 miles from where Interstate 49 meets Stephen Carr Memorial Boulevard to near where Poplar Street ends at College Avenue. In addition to the new trail, the project will include new curbs, storm drainage, lighting, street trees and sidewalks with greenspace, according to a page on the city’s website.

Total cost estimate on the project is nearly $20 million, with most of the money coming from trails and transportation bond issues voters approved in 2019. A section near the police headquarters is complete, with a roundabout installed where Carr Boulevard, Porter Road and Deane Street intersect. Carr Boulevard also got a new sidewalk on its west side and a 12-foot-wide trail on the east side. Deane Street now has a new sidewalk on its south side and a trail on its north side just past the fire station.

City crews are well underway working on the Mission Boulevard trail from Viewpoint to Rush drives. Work is nearly complete to Rush Drive. Crews hope to finish up to the section north to Viewpoint Drive, near Root Elementary School, this year, Mihalevich said. Work on the project likely will continue into next year, he said.

The city plans to partner with a developer to fill in a gap of the Hamestring Creek trail from Salem to Rupple roads, Mihalevich said. A mixed-use development is going in at Rupple and Mount Comfort roads nearby, and the developer would pay a share of the cost to build the trail, he said.

The Hamestring project also involves installing a bridge over the creek. The city hired local engineering firm Garver to design the bridge.

The final trail project would extend Drake Street from Gordon Long Park to College Avenue, including a bridge over Scull Creek. Crafton Tull, with an engineering office in Fayetteville, is designing the project. The four-lane Drake Street will get an overhaul with two car lanes and a two-way, separated bicycle lane, Mihalevich said. Either a turn lane or parallel parking will go in on Drake Street. The city is taking public comment on the street’s design, he said.

SIDEWALKS AND STREETS

The city has 21 sidewalk projects on the list this year, totaling 304 days of work. City crews plan to take on all of them except one on Leverett Avenue from Sycamore to Hazel streets, which a contractor is working on now. Estimated cost on all of the projects is about $1.5 million, coming from the city’s street fund and capital improvements budget.

Any projects not completed this year would roll into next year.

The city uses a scoring matrix to prioritize sidewalk projects. It takes into account population and job densities, gaps in the sidewalk network, potential for pedestrian injuries, traffic speeds and volumes, proximity to schools and population demographics, Public Works Director Chris Brown said.

As the proposed plan works its way through the active transportation and council transportation committees, members can suggest changes. Resident feedback also is considered when devising the list, Brown said.

Six projects would have existing sidewalks replaced or gaps filled in. Four of them are in or near downtown.

The north side of Dickson Street from West to School avenues would be redesigned for better pedestrian flow. Deteriorated sidewalks on the north and south sides of Center Street would be replaced. A sidewalk on the north side of Cleveland Street from Leverett to Whitham avenues would have gaps filled. The west side of Lewis Avenue from Deane Street to Wedington Drive would also have gaps filled.

Two other sidewalk projects are being carried over from last year. The west side of Old Missouri Road from Frazier Terrace to Stearns Street and the west side of Salem Road from Clearwood Drive to Mount Comfort Road would have continuous sidewalks.

Fourteen other projects would involve repairing sidewalks: six on the northeast side of town, five on the west side and a couple near downtown. One, on the north side of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard from Block to East avenues, is slated for the south part of town.

Sometimes the city gets sidewalks built as part of a new development, and those projects do not appear on the annual work list, Brown said. For instance, some developments being built on the south part of town also include sidewalks, he said.

Aside from trails and sidewalks, city crews plan to do nearly 15 miles of asphalt work on city streets. Total estimated cost is about $2.3 million. The longest stretches include Rupple, Razorback, New Bridge and Salem roads and Hope and Mountain streets.