Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Bentonville seeks grants to pay for more trails
BENTONVILLE — The city is seeking federal grant money to help build three trail projects, two of which would increase safety for trail users.
The City Council voted 8-0 to apply for two grants totaling nearly $ 1 million through the Transportation Alternative Program and another $96,800 grant through the Recreational Trails Program.
Both programs use federal money administered by the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department, said David Wright, parks and recreation director.
One of the grants sought is for $500,000 to assist with moving a portion of the Razorback Greenway between Southeast 13th Court and Southeast 18th Street by digging a tunnel under Southeast 14th Street in between Southeast J and Southeast O streets.
The project is estimated to cost $2.5 million. The Walton Family Foundation approached the city at the end of last year offering a grant if the city could match $250,000 for the project.
Council members discussed the offer last year, noting the dangerous greenway crossing on Southeast 14th Street. A pedestrian tunnel would provide a crossing where trail users and motorists wouldn’t intersect, they said.
“We already prepared the budget. We didn’t have $250,000 to reallocate at that time,” Mayor Bob McCaslin said after Tuesday’s meeting.
Wright said he informed the foundation the city would be applying for the government grant, and they agreed to provide the remaining $ 2 million if the grant is awarded.
The second grant from the Transportation Alternative Program would be for $480,000 to build a side path — a hard surface trail running adjacent to a road — on the west side of McCollum Road between Tiger Boulevard and East Central Avenue.
The project would complete a loop by connecting to side paths on East Central Avenue and Tiger Boulevard, which already connect to the side path on Northeast J Street.
There also is a side path on John DeShields Boulevard, which runs parallel between East Central Avenue and Tiger Boulevard.
This project has been in the city’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan since 2012 and also is in the Northwest Arkansas Regional Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan, according to meeting documents.
“Citizens have called several times over the past five years asking that a trail be constructed on McCollum to complete the loop,” Shelli Kerr, planning services manager, wrote in a memo to council members.
“Whether it’s being used … as a walking route, a running route or even a cycling route, it’s a heavily traveled route,” Wright said.
The total project cost is estimated to be $ 726,000, $246,000 of which the city would be responsible for, according to meeting documents.
The council also agreed to apply for $96,800 from the Recreational Trails Program to assist with constructing a soft-surface single track trail around Citizens Park.
It would coincide with the one- mile hard- surface trail that is scheduled to be built later this year, Wright said, adding the soft-surface trail would be similar to the All American Trail that parallels the Crystal Bridges Trail.
This project is expected to cost $ 122,210. The Walton Family Foundation will provide a $25,410 grant for the local match requirement, according to meeting documents.
Grants expedite planned trails, McCaslin said.
“It’s always about the funding,” he said. “If we can receive money from outside our city budget then we can accelerate the actual implementation of construction of those trails.”
The council also accepted a $1.6 million grant from the Walton Family Foundation for the construction of pedestrian tunnels at the intersection of Southeast Eighth and Southeast J streets.