Little Rock Trail Network Expansions

I've written previously here and in my books about the need for Little Rock to work on trail connectivity and the potential of trails along Coleman Creek, Rose Creek, Rock Creek, and Fourche Creek. Tonight they are voting to add many of these ideas to the master plan! Please contact your director or attend the meeting to show your support for these projects.

These trails would greatly expand the walkability and bikeability of Little Rock. The Rose Creek Trail (it may have another name now) would connect the River Trail to Fourche Bottoms and would also make it easier for a lot more people to bike to work downtown by connecting major residential areas to the River Trail.

Rose Creek Trail

Update 5/11/2014: Paving work has begun. A short stretch between Thayer and Dennison near Capitol Ave. is now paved.

Residents of Capitol View/Stift Station are working with city officials on a trail that would connect the neighborhood to the River Trail.  The proposed Rose Creek Trail would roughly follow Rose Creek and a railroad right-of-way up from Cantrell Rd. to 7th St.  Some supporters envision it continuing along the railroad all the way to Roosevelt Rd., the State Fairgrounds, and even connecting up to a proposed Fourche Bottoms Trail.   In addition to the fairgrounds, this trail would pass by Whitewater Tavern, Little Rock Central High School, and some scenic cemeteries.

Some people have discussed using part or all of this trail as a scenic, yet lengthy work-around to the Dillards/Episcopal RiverTrail problem.

View Rose Creek Trail in a larger map

Fourche Bottoms Park - Time to Make it Happen

Fourche Bottoms Park is an enormous city park that no one in the city knows about.  A major reason no one knows about it, is that no work has been done there.  No roads, trails, boardwalks, or bathrooms have been built.  Nothing has been done, even though way back in the early 1980's the Corps of Engineers authorized a project to preserve 1,750 acres of the bottoms and build nature appreciation features there.  Much of the Fourche Bottoms and nearby Fourche Creek floodplain are publicly owned.  The BFI landfill is now closed and will be transferred to the city once capping is complete.
In fact, we have a massive 4,000 acre area of contiguous public land that includes Brodie Creek Park, Boyle Park, the Coleman Creek Greenway, Hindman Park, Fourche Bottoms, the State Fairgrounds, Interstate Park, and the Audubon Center that could all be connected with trails if we could just get the Fourche Bottoms trails done.
This trail system could also connect to the planned Rose Creek Trail and the Swaggerty Creek Trail at Crump and Interstate Parks.

If the thought of this massive area of public land being connected with paved trails and boardwalks excites you, you are in luck!  There are already several groups planning and working to make this a reality.
Visit http://fourchecreek.org/, http://www.villagecommonslr.com, US ACE Summary, or http://www.facebook.com/southendlr for more information.  Or ask me on here.

Fourche Bottoms Park and Proposed Trails.
Grey Lines - Proposed Trails
Red Lines - Existing Unpaved Trails
Black Lines - Existing Paved Trails.

Here is a Google Map of the same area since I realize I didn't really label any roads on the map above:

View Larger Map