How We See It: Regional Plan Provides Push For Trail Network

The Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department may be hurting for money to improve and expand the state's highways, but the state of trails in Northwest Arkansas is strong.

Some of the larger towns have spent millions on bicycle and pedestrian trails over the last decade or more, but the push for trails gained momentum in 2010 when a federal grant provided $15 million and the Walton Family Foundation pledged matching funds for the Razorback Regional Greenway, a 36-mile trail from Fayetteville to Bentonville.

What's The Point?

We encourage the 25 cities and towns being asked to endorse a regional bike and pedestrian trail master plan to support the effort.

Anyone who gets on any of the trails can attest to the fact they're popular. And now, a new push to involve smaller communities in the two-county area is on.

The Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission is in the process of asking 25 area cities and towns to approve individualized trail plans and to endorse the recently completed Northwest Arkansas Bike and Pedestrian Master Plan.

The plan is largely a tool that makes it easier to seek out federal and other grants, and that will prove critical for the smaller towns that don't have large budgets available for development of bike and pedestrian trails. The amount of work done in bigger towns and the linkage to a regional trail way is a down payment on a widespread trail system that's likely to help qualify smaller cities for grants to fund their own trail systems.

Over time, the Razorback Regional Greenway and the trails built in each city and town will promote their use by locals and visitors. It makes perfect sense to tie the individual efforts to build trails into a network that runs throughout the region.

Since the regional master plan doesn't lock any town into funding, it's smart to be part of developing a comprehensive approach that will serve local folks as well as riders and pedestrians spread out all over the area.

The Razorback Regional Greenway will serve as the Interstate 49 of connectivity for bikers and pedestrians. With that link, outstanding opportunities are ahead for every community willing to be part of the discussion.

Market Decision Fits Space

The Fayetteville City Council deserves applause for rezoning property along Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in the face of opposition from about two dozen neighbors.

Walmart plans to build a Neighborhood Market on the site, which fronts the five-lane highway named in honor of the slain civil rights leader. The store will be a vast improvement over the facilities now on the property and will generate tax revenue for city coffers.

The project got caught up in a debate over the form land use within the city will take. Fayetteville has adopted a strong drive to end development that's designed for the automobile. In this case, aldermen Sarah Marsh, Matthew Petty and Mark Kinion wanted a type of zoning that would have required the building at streetside, with parking in the rear. Of course, most neighborhood markets are designed with parking lots between the street and their stores.

Trying to force a downtown style of development onto a five-lane highway isn't a good fit. The City Council recognized that, too, when nobody resisted development of a Whole Foods Store on College Avenue with parking in front, between the building and the highway. Is there a double standard based on who's building the store?

South Fayetteville will be well-served by an additional grocery store accessible easily by car.

Commentary on 12/22/2014

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