I have lived in Fayetteville for three years now, so I'm always excited when I get to cover updates on Little Rock trails. I made the trip down to speak at the Little Rock Sustainability Summit last week and heard lots of great news. After speaking on Little Rock's natural environment, the costs of sprawl, and ways to improve the local trail network; I learned about lots of interesting projects the city has underway:
While Little Rock has so far failed to "Close the Loop" on the River Trail, work is underway on the Rose Creek Trail and creating a master trail plan that will improve connectivity and expand resident's abilities to use the trails for commuting and errands in addition to pure recreational use.
A new section of the Coleman Creek Greenway was just officially opened. Hopefully this trail will one day run from War Memorial Park all the way to Fourche Bottoms, where it could connect to trails from Hindman Park, Boyle Park, and Fourche Bottoms.
South Main St. has been transformed from a 4-lane car dominated thoroughfare into a 3-lane, more bike-friendly route. Seeing bikes and pedestrians put on a more equal priority level is great and is fantastic news for residents and visitors to this amazing part of town.
I also got the impression that the City is getting serious about plans for The Southwest Trail and ways to connect it to downtown and the Arkansas River Trail. For those of you who are familiar with Little Rock's "City in a Park" plan, this would complete two sides of the proposed triangle of trails around the city.
Finally, it also sounded like things were moving forward with trails in Hindman Park and across the creek in the former Western Hills Golf Course. This area has great potential for outdoor recreation right in the heart of the city.
People in Little Rock, help me out here. Did I miss anything?
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