Trail Connectivity Sought

BENTONVILLE — The Downtown Trail could connect through to the Regional Razorback Greenway if the City Council approves money for the project at tonight’s meeting.

The $95,000 project would construct a 10-foot-wide trail from east of the Bentonville Public Library to Southeast E Street near the Kraft Foods plant. The Downtown Trail ends now near Southeast B Street near the library.

The new trail will meet the Town Branch Trail that serves as a section of the 36-mile Regional Razorback Greenway.

At A Glance

The Meeting

What: Bentonville City Council

Where: Community Development Building, 305 S.W. A St.

When: 6 p.m. tonight

“It will still be known as the Downtown Trail,” said David Wright, director of the Parks Department. The trail connector is identified as the Fourth Street Trail on agenda documents. It will travel south of Southeast Fourth Street.

The trail will be paid for with $45,000 from the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department’s Transportation Enhancement Program and $50,000 from the Community Development Block Grant.

City staff recommends the Council award the bid for the project to low bidder General Solutions Group. The city had initially estimated cost of construction at $129,000.

Council members also will consider their portion of a fund for water quality studies on the Illinois River. Bentonville joins Fayetteville, Rogers, Springdale, Washington County and Benton County in paying $40,000 each to the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission for studies conducted by the intergovernmental work group.

The group is responding to a second agreement signed this year by attorneys general for Arkansas and Oklahoma on reducing phosphorus levels in the Illinois River. Studies aim to provide a “science-based target” for phosphorus levels in the river, according to the city’s agreement with the commission.

Also on the agenda is an amendment to the design contract for improvements on Northwest Second Street. A box culvert west of Northwest D Street is structurally and hydraulically insufficient and must be repaired, according to agenda documents.

The additional repairs will cost $15,600. The street is undergoing work on water and sewer lines in preparation for later construction on the street. The box culvert will be included in the second phase of improvements, said Ben Peters, city engineer.

Peters said the second phase will start about the time school lets out for summer break. He said he doubts the street will be fully completed by the time school starts in the fall.

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