Frisco Trail / Razorback Greenway Extension Under MLK Almost Done

Update 3/19/14: Done!  You can now pass under MLK on the trail.  The trail extensions described below are underway, but currently you can't really go much of anywhere after using the tunnel.

I've been trying to find a good time to photograph the tunnel progress, and a recent trip to the Farmer's Co-op for a snow shovel and local eggs provided a perfect opportunity.  The tunnel under MLK will help connect much of south Fayetteville to the Frisco Trail and greater Razorback Greenway.  City plans for the trail show it forking south of the tunnel with one branch connecting to the Walker Park trails and the other paralleling MLK to pull in traffic from all the new large apartment complexes.  This will allow residents of those complexes a safe way to get to campus and Dickson St. by bike or by foot instead of having to battle traffic and fight for parking.  

The Southwest Trail

Plans are being developed for a trail between Little Rock and Hot Springs.  This 50-mile trail would follow the old Rock Island Railroad track and would be one of the longest Rails-to-Trails projects in the country.  One of the great things about using old railroad beds is that much of the earth-moving and grading work is already done and you are guaranteed a trail with no steep slopes (which is no easy task when passing through the Ouachitas).
Many local officials from counties and cities along the path have expressed interest, so now the big question is where the ~$20 million will come from.  Funds for these types of projects often come from a variety of sources including federal transportation dollars, as well as state, county, and city funds.  Arkansas gets roughly $10 million a year in federal Transportation Alternatives funds, but these don't go just to trails.  It should be noted that funds for trails via this program and from more local sources are under constant threat these days by political parties and groups that think all transportation dollars should go towards expanding highways and repaving roads as part of an unbalanced "cars only" approach to transportation policy.  If we want more funding for trails, we need to encourage our lawmakers to protect existing funding sources and pass local initiatives similar to the statewide 1/8th cent conservation sales tax and the sales tax increase that Little Rock recently passed in part to fund parks and trails.
This trail would help complete the second side of the "city-in-a-park" trail triangle that is part of the Little Rock Parks Master Plan.

The Prezi below, by Mason Ellis, has more details on the project.

Coleman Creek Updates

On my way to Hindman Park yesterday, I drove through UALR to check on the Coleman Creek Greenway progress.  Having served on the greenway committee and spent lots of time helping grade and plant the Trail of Tears section at the southern end of campus, I was interested to see if the trail had been expanded.  It turns out that a lot of progress has been made since I last visited. Students can now walk along a nice, wide, tree-lined pedestrian path from 28th St. to Asher Ave. or in other words the full length of the main part of campus; which is an important milestone in terms of the utilitarian value of the trail to students.

The original concept for this trail wasn't just to provide an improved experience for students walking to class from Lot 13 or the dorms.  When complete, the trail will stretch over three miles from Markham at the north end of War Memorial Park down to Fourche Creek near Mabelvale Pike where it could connect to other trails in the area coming in from Hindman Park, Fourche Bottoms, or the former BFI landfill.  Running along both sides of the creek in some sections, the trail will connect areas of residential, recreational, academic, and commercial uses and provide a scenic and healthy alternative transportation route for people looking to avoid driving on University Ave.

More articles on Coleman Creek.

 

Current Coleman Creek Greenway

View Coleman Current in a larger map

Future Coleman Creek Greenway

View Coleman Creek Greenway in a larger map

UA Farm Link To Scull Creek Trail

The UA Farm Link, as it is called on the Fayetteville Master Trails Plan, is nearing completion. It connects the Frisco trail to more apartment complexes, the UA Farm, the AMP, and the county fairgrounds. This roughly two-mile section of trail has some nice open views as it travels through different parts of the UA Agricultural Research Farm. Hopefully the route navigating the interstate will be completed soon and this trail will connect to the Hamestring Creek Trail, which will in turn, one day connect to Bryce Davis Park and the dog park there. A valuable aspect of these trails is that they will connect the large residential areas west of I-540 to the main trail network, providing more residents with the option of commuting to work (or shopping or Dickson St.) by foot or bike.

When deciding what types of trails to include in my books and on this blog, I made a decision not to include wide sidewalks or trails that just parallel roads; partly because I prefer trails that take you places a car can't and partly to focus my work. Much of this trail does follow existing roads, but it also goes places cars can't. Importantly, the section along Knapp Dr. is a dedicated bike lane with a physical curb separating bikes from cars. As I've written elsewhere (here, here, and here), this is a much better idea than simply marking bike symbols on roads and hoping for the best.

There are not a lot of great places to park to access this trail. If you want to check it out but don't live nearby, the Agricultural Park at Knapp and Garland has some roadside parking.

Frisco Trail Extension

Three designs for the MLK crossing of the Frisco Trail in Fayetteville have been proposed.  The city is taking public comments until June 22nd.  The Bicycle Coalition of the Ozarks' website has more details and a map showing the proposed crossings and how the extension will link up to other trails including Tsa La Gi and Walker Park.  Let your voice be heard by reviewing the trail options and sending in your comments to Matt Mihalevich at mmihalevich@ci.fayetteville.ar.us

I personally favor the "Above Grade" option since MLK is a large busy road and the tunnels on this trail system can get pretty damp and a little spooky at certain times of the day.  Cars stuck in traffic on MLK will be reminded of other forms of transportation if they can see bikes whizzing by overhead.

UPDATE: They went with the tunnel.

Hamestring Creek Trail

After being trapped inside for much of the past three days (nice Spring Break!) Buddy and I decided to shake the cabin fever by hitting some trails, rain or shine (it turned out to be rain).

After exploring Finger Park and only getting a little wet, we drove north to the Hamestring Creek Trail, located on Marigold Dr. in a small neighborhood off of Shiloh Dr. near Mt. Comfort Rd.

This wide paved trail runs along Hamestring Creek through a forested area and at times behind some homes.  The stream corridor is home to some sycamore, oaks, cedar and a good mix of other tree species, but the understory in entirely dominated by bush honeysuckle

In its current state, this trail only serves a small population, but I believe the plan is for it to eventually connect to the Clabber Creek Trail to the west and to the Scull Creek Trail to the east, which would give people living in western Fayetteville a safe, scenic way to bike into the more happening parts of town.

Crystal Bridges Trail

Bentonville has a nice network of road and mountain biking trails.  Yesterday, Angela and I made our first pilgrimage to the city that Walmart built.  We parked in the square, walked by the original Walmart, sampled popsicles, ate at the delicious and fancy Tusk and Trotter, and then got on our bikes.
We quickly reached Compton Gardens after heading north on A St.  Where the paved trail forks, we took the Art Trail to the right.  This trail is short, but has some interesting sights and another plus for the botanically oriented like myself, the trees and shrubs are labeled.  This trail currently dead-ends at the southern entrance to the museum, so we turned around and backtracked to the Crystal Bridges Trail.  After turning right on the trail, we followed it through the woods for a while, stopping at the construction viewing platform and some of the sculptures along the path.  One slightly shocking thing I noticed, is that there is a dirt path paralleling the paved trail that is not just used by, but is actually intended for mountain bikers.  Pretty cool for a trail named after a museum!
After the museum area, the paved trail passes a wastewater treatment plant and runs along a road.  Where the trail borders the road, it is separated by a concrete barrier.  Way to go Bentonville.  As I made clear in another blog entry, this is the only way to make a bike lane on a road truly safe.
For the next mile or two, the paved trail is surround by tons of mountain biking trails and courses.  We stopped for a break near the northern most marker on the map below to watch lots of mountain bikers whiz around a fun looking course.
From there we followed the trail west then south past a new-looking dog park with a restroom and parking area.  We then followed the Blue Route, which simply followed some roads back to the square.  Had we known that, we might have just taken the trail back.

An Unsolicited Plan for a Mullins Creek Greenway

I wrote an earlier piece on how UA needed to take a page out of UALR's book and create a Mullins Creek Greenway, similar to UALR's Coleman Creek Greenway, but I didn't include many specifics.  So here is my plan for Mullins Creek in greater detail:

Overall Objectives:
1.  Provide the campus community a scenic and safe trail that connects housing areas, athletic facilities, classrooms, and shopping areas.
2.  Improve the habitat and water quality of Mullins Creek.
3.  Provide a viable alternative to driving around campus that is healthier, more scenic, and just as fast.

Stage 1: The Cheap Stuff
1.  Establish a "no-mow" zone around the creek.  This would actually be more of a mow twice a year zone that would immediately help decrease erosion along the creek, improve water quality and provide habitat for wildlife.

2.  To avoid looking like an overgrown drainage ditch, attractive native grasses, shrubs and trees could be planted along the banks for little extra cost.  Inland sea oats, soft rush, blackgum, red bud, sycamore, and dogwoods are just a few examples of attractive plants that would improve aesthetics, water quality, and habitat.  Streambank and wetland plants can typically be purchases for ~$1 a plug.  Tree prices vary depending on size, but can be as cheap as $30 for a 6' tall tree.  Smaller sapplings go for 10 cents when bought in bulk.  If done as part of an official mitigation plan, this project might even pay for itself.

Stage 2:  The Not Cheap, but Not Really That Expensive Stuff
1.  Increase the width of existing trails/sidewalks to at least 12 feet.
2.  Move existing sidewalks that are within 10 feet of the creek (red on the map) farther away.  Placing a path too close to the creek can, and has, led to bank erosion, flooded trails, and expensive repairs.
3.  Pave new sections of trail to connect existing sections each other and dorms, apartments, athletic facilities, classrooms, and shopping areas.

Stage 3:  The Expensive Stuff.
1.  Remove the parking lot at MLK and Razorback Rd.  Replace it with a 3-4 story parking deck located away from the creek that has 1/3 the footprint (shown in red and green below).
2.  Convert the old parking area nearest the creek to a Trail of Tears Park with educational signage.
3.  Build  a pedestrian bridge over MLK.  This street is really busy and waiting to cross it can be a pain.
4.  Perform a coordinated, natural channel design, stream restoration of the creek where it is above ground on campus.  This will save money on maintenance in the long-run and improve water quality and habitat on campus and downstream.

Here is a map of the proposed trail. The majority of this is already in place. Existing sections would just need to be improved and short connections would need to be made.

UA needs to Copy UALR - Mullins Creek vs. Coleman Creek

Mullins Creek on the University of Arkansas campus in Fayetteville has a lot in common with Coleman Creek which flows through UALR's campus in Little Rock. Both creeks:

1. Flow through campus and were historically treated more as obstacles than amenities.
2. Had buildings built OVER them.
3. Were crossed by the Trail of Tears. (and at what is now the southern end of each campus even!)
4. Face problems associated with rapid urban development of their watersheds. (trash, erosion)
5. Are impacted by Razorback football game tailgating. (War Memorial Park in Little Rock, Razorback Gardens in Fayetteville.)

With all they have in common, their recent history couldn't be more different.

UALR:
1. Formed the Coleman Creek Greenway Committee with experts in landscape architecture, environmental engineering, ecology, GIS, habitat restoration, trails, etc.
2. Came up with plans to improve the creek's habitat and water quality.
3. Developed plans for a wide, paved, bike and pedestrian trail that will eventually run along both sides of the creek and connect the campus to surrounding neighborhoods and city parks.
4. Tore down multiple buildings and ripped up acres of parking to build Trail of Tears Park, which has educational signage and native plant landscaping along the first section of the trail to be completed.
5. Is working to decrease vehicular traffic through campus and boost bike and pedestrian traffic.

UA:
1. Threw some boulders in the creek, which actually sped erosion, and called it a day.
(I don't know if this is completely fair, since I haven't been in Fayetteville for very long. I've read that plans for a restoration are being drawn up but haven't seen any evidence of plans or intent to implement them. UA did remove buildings where Razorback Gardens and the baseball field are, but I think this was done more for sports than the creek.)


Conclusion:
UA needs to form a Mullins Creek Greenway Committee with the full backing of the Chancellor. The goals of this committee need to be to:

1. Boost student access to, and appreciation of, Mullins Creek.
2. Improve water quality in Mullins Creek.
3. Improve habitat and the aesthetics of the creek.
4. Find ways to better link the creek and campus to the surrounding community.


Here are some basic ways some of these goals could be accomplished:

1. Conduct a natural stream channel restoration of the sections of the creek that are still above ground. As part of this, plant the banks with native grasses, shrubs, and trees and limit mowing of a 25' buffer along the creek to once or twice a year.
2. Expand and improve the sidewalks along and near the trail. Take the trail to the southern end of campus and connect it to the Tsa La Gi Trail and Hill Place Apartments.
3. Create a Trail of Tears Park at the southern edge of campus that educates people on the history of the Trail of Tears. Make sure this park is connected to the main trail along the creek.
4. In the long run, seek to remove impervious surfaces on campus. Install green roofs, rain gardens, and bioswales. Store rainwater in cisterns and use that for irrigation on campus.

Arkansas Trail Funding News

There is lots going on this week with trail funding in our state:
1.  From the AP (via the DemGaz) the Highway Commission awarded a total of $1.8 million to 31 different trail projects around the state.  Big winners include Arkansas State Parks and Hendrix College.
2.  Also from the AP (via the DemGaz) as part of the aforementioned $1.8 million, the City of Hot Springs got $40,000 to build a bridge that will connect two existing recreational trails. (see map below, if you are from Hot Springs, let me know if I got this right)
3.  Voters in Little Rock will head to the polls Sept. 13 to vote on two separate sales tax increases.  If passed, at roughly $28 million will go to parks and trails in Little Rock.  Given that Little Rock has the lowest sales tax in the state, this is a tax we can handle.
UPDATE: The two sales taxes passed.
Map below:

Tsa La Gi Trail

Update 7/4/14:  The Tsa La Gi (Cherokee in Cherokee I'm told) Trail has been extended and now runs from Razorback Rd. to the Razorback Greenway near MLK and School Ave.  While it isn't the most scenic trail in Northwest Arkansas, it is important since it connects numerous restaurants, large apartment complexes, and businesses to the trail system.  This makes it easier for more people to use the trail not just for recreation, but for transportation.

The Tsa La Gi Trail in its current form is little more than a wide sidewalk for the Hill Place apartment complex.  At a under 0.2 mi. in length, this trail is the shortest mentioned in the Fayetteville Trails Guide brochure.  I think the main reason for its inclusion is to raise awareness of plans for connecting it to the university and Fayetteville High School campuses to the west and the Scull Creek Trail just 0.3 mi. to the east.

View Tsa La Gi Trail in a larger map

Gulley Park Trail

Gulley Park is a large city park in northeast Fayetteville located near the intersection of Township Rd. and Old Wire Rd.  The park has large open mowed areas that are great for picnics, playing with your dog, or tossing a frisbee or ball around.  It also has a creek, sand volleyball court, gazebo, picnic tables, a large playground and ~1.5 mi. of fairly flat asphalt trail.  The dark blue outer loop on the map, including the spur to Azalea Terrace, is 1.5 mi.
There isn't much shade along the trail, but lots of young shade trees have been planted recently and should provide some good shade here in 10 years assuming they don't die from lack of water (which some of them looked close to doing).
The best views of Niokaska Creek are along the light blue trail on the map.  This creek has had some problems with bank erosion in the past, and has benefited from restoration work.  The creek was bone dry when I visited today (early September).
The plan for this trail is to extend it to the north and connect it to the Mud Creek Trail.

Why Separate Trails are Better Than Bike Lanes

Updated 6/9/14: Here is an article about a study showing ridership increases when cities build protected bike lanes and click here to learn about Protected Intersections.

American cities, in an attempt to find quick and cheap solutions to the increased demand for safe ways to travel by bike, have largely resorted to segregating bikes from traffic using a thin white strip of paint.  This lets them say they are creating miles and miles of bike lanes and doing the right thing, while not really having to spend much time or money addressing the problem.
The sad reality that is becoming painfully clear is that white lines of paint don't protect bikes from cars.  A recent article in The Economist points out that Americans are 3-5 times more likely to die while biking than their counterparts in much more bike-friendly Western Europe.  The article points out that the main reasons for this are:
1.  White lines of paint tend to be ignored by automobile drivers and unenforced by police.  These same millimeter-thick lines of pigment, apparently fail to keep cars travelling 30-40 mph from slamming into bikes travelling much slower.
2.  Collisions between cars travelling 40 mph and bikes travelling at typical bike speeds typically result in a fatality.
3.  In Europe, cars that mix openly with bikes are limited to speeds under 20 mph.
4.  Most bike routes in Europe are completely separate from roads.  Bikes often have their own network of paved trails and when they overlap roads, large concrete barriers separate bicycle traffic from potentially lethal automobiles.

American cities, like Portland, that have followed the European example have managed to drastically reduce bike fatalities.  Sadly, cities in Arkansas are lagging far behind (as usual) and a tragic price is being paid.  There have been multiple bicyclist deaths in Arkansas that could have been prevented if suitable bike infrastructure had been in place.

It is for these reasons that I advocate for bike/pedestrian networks of trails that are completely separate from roads.  Painted bike lanes on busy roads are a misguided and horrible mistake.  Let's build safe alternative transportation routes that protect all our citizens.

Useful Links:
http://www.bicycling.com/news/advocacy/safer-streets-yes-please?cid=socNews_20140807_29328676
http://www.smartgrowthamerica.org/research/dangerous-by-design/dbd2014/fatalities-map/
http://www.economist.com/node/21528302

Crunch Time for Razorback Trail

Bill Bowden, of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, had an interesting article (pay wall) in the paper last week on the future of the Razorback Trail.  Apparently, $10 million of a federal grant goes up in smoke unless plans for the trail are finalized by Dec. 31.
Current plans for the Razorback Trail include connecting existing trails with new sections of trail to form a continuous 36 mile trail from south Fayetteville all the way to north Bentonville.  Completed sections of the trail in Fayetteville and Bentonville already connect to multiple spur or feeder trails.
Given the rush hour traffic in NW Arkansas, I imagine there may be thousands of people who could bike to work using this trail in roughly the same amount of time it takes to drive.  Factor in the benefits of no road rage and not having to spend time at the gym on days you bike to work and this trail starts looking really good for commuters.

Maps of the proposed trail can be viewed at:
http://nwarpc.org/pdf/Transportation/NWA_RR_Greenway.pdf
http://www.bconwa.com/attachments/156_Regional%20Map.pdf

First Impression: Fayetteville is Hilly, but has Nice Trails.

Today I went on my first long bike ride in Fayetteville since moving here for school.  From my daily commute, I already knew that Fayetteville was a pretty hilly place, but today I finally got to explore the main trail in town that all the other little trails want to be like or at least connect to.  The split personality Frisco/Scull Creek/Mud Creek Trail(s) run from southern Fayetteville up to southern Springdale.  My route is shown on the map.  While the ride took me through some scenic and not-so-scenic areas, the coolest part may have been biking through a long, dark, tunnel under the interstate.

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

Building Bridges - Connecting Communities, Trails, and Parks

This year has been a big one for bridge building in Little Rock. The Big Dam bridge got a baby brother this summer when the Little Maumelle bridge was completed.  This attractive and already heavily used bridge connects an extension of the River Trail to Two Rivers Park.  For most Little Rockians, this makes Two Rivers Park much more accessible, as people living in Riverdale, The Heights, and Hillcrest can now bike to Two Rivers in less time than it would take them to drive.

Down the river on the other side of town, the Junction Bridge is expecting a sibling as well.  The Rock Island bridge is getting a face-lift and will soon play host to bikers and pedestrians travelling between Little Rock and North Little Rock or making the River Trail loop.  Unlike the Junction Bridge, this bridge has a continuous ramp, so bikers will no longer have to dismount and take lots of stairs or an elevator to get across the river.

These bridges and the trails they connect, will have (and are already having) a major positive impact on the quality of life and health of the citizens of Little Rock and North Little Rock.

Where should the next bridge be built?  Somewhere over Fourche Creek?  Between the Big Dam Bridge and the Junction Bridge?  Or would that money be better spent helping pave some of the many proposed trails out there?

Trails in Little Rock - Going Beyond Recreation

Little Rock has spent a lot of money on trails and will hopefully and likely continue to do so for years to come. So far, most of these trails are short and disconnected, making the suitable only for recreation and not for commuting. One major exception to this is the River Trail. Lots of people use it for recreation, but a sizable number of people also use it to get to work without hopping in a car. Given the health benefits of walking and biking, and the negative impacts of driving (traffic, air pollution, road rage, greenhouse gas emissions...) wouldn't it be great if our community expanded other trails and connected them to the River Trail in order to make it easier for more people from more locations in the city to get places safely by bike or foot?

Some neighborhoods are already working to make this happen. The Stift Station/Capitol View neighborhood has plans for a paved trail along Rose Creek that would connect the neighborhood to the River Trail, giving residents a scenic and safe way to get downtown while avoiding automobiles.

UALR and Little Rock Parks are working on a trail along Coleman Creek that would connect residential, commercial, and park areas to the University in Midtown.

Rock Creek, which flows from Chenal Valley essentially to UALR, already has multiple sections of paved trail along its banks. If these sections were connected, people in West Little Rock would be able to bike between their homes and nearby shopping areas or even all the way to Midtown without having to share busy streets with speeding cars.

The map below shows what these connections might look like. If you like any of these ideas be sure to share them with your friends and elected officials.