SPRINGDALE — Bicyclists should be able to ride a continuous trail from northern Bentonville to the south side of Fayetteville within two years.
A $15 million federal grant, announced earlier this month, should provide enough money to finish the main sections of the Razorback Regional Greenway, a bicycle and pedestrian trail, officials said.
A patchwork of existing city trails can be connected to form the backbone of the eventual 36-mile, $38 million trail system, said John McLarty of the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission.
City money and donations from the Walton Family Foundation have paid for trails in Fayetteville, Rogers and Bentonville, leaving a gap through Springdale and Lowell, McLarty said. The $15 million from the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery program should be enough to close that gap and connect existing trail sections, he said.
Springdale officials have started improving Shiloh Square, a downtown pavilion planners envision will serve as a midpoint stop on the trail. Once the details and restrictions on the program money are defined, the city will start building trail north and south from Shiloh Square, possibly before the end of the year, said Patsy Christie, city planning director.
“There are always a lot of unknowns with federal dollars that have to be sorted out, but as soon as that’s done, we’ll get started,” Christie said.
The $36 million price tag includes improvements such as trailhead parking lots and signs, which may come in the future, McLarty said.
“Right now, what we’re looking to complete is the physical trail link,” he said.
Project plans have been submitted to the Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department for grant consideration. Those grants should be awarded later this year or early next year, said Dick Trammel, a state highway commissioner from Rogers.
“So far, any state money is questionable, but I’m optimistic,” Trammel said. “This project is a great thing for our communities, and I think the Highway Department will recognize that.”
The trail, with several spurs and connections to other routes, will run through Bentonville, Rogers, Lowell, Springdale, Johnson and Fayetteville.
“A lot of the system in Fayetteville is already built,” said Matt Mihalevich, city trails coordinator. “Our big push is to take care of some bottlenecks and lay whatever we need to get to the connection points to Springdale and Johnson.”
Daphne Moore, a spokeswoman for the Walton Family Foundation, applauded the grant but didn’t have details regarding any additional foundation donations to the project.
The regional planning commission applied for $24.8 million in federal money. The same federal program, in a round of grants earlier this year, gave $10 million of a requested $150 million for the Bella Vista bypass project.
There’s no jealousy or regret the trail project was given more grant money than the bypass, Trammel said.
“Any time local communities get funding to improve infrastructure, we count that as a success,” he said.