SPRINGDALE -- People bicycling or walking on the almost complete Razorback Greenway will also be able to use mile markers along the way.
Aldermen approved an agreement with the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission to participate in a mile-marker project for the trail system.
Council Action
Springdale’s city council met Tuesday and approved:
• Expressing support for the Ammonia Refrigeration Technology Program at Northwest Technical Institute and encouraging the General Assembly and governor to appropriate state money for the program.
• Appointing Joe Dunn and Gary Compton to the Springdale Planning Commission.
• Reducing the time from 15 days to seven days property owners have to fix a code violation concerning address numbers on buildings.
Source: Staff Report
The greenway will be 36 miles long, according to meeting documents. It will go from Bella Vista in the north to Fayetteville in the south and will go through Bentonville, Rogers, Lowell, Springdale and Johnson.
Those cities are expected to each install mile markers on their parts of the trail. The cost for the markers in all the cities is $57,000.
Springdale has 8.26 miles of the greenway in its borders and will have eight mile markers, according to meeting documents. The markers will cost $12,000.
Springdale's markers will be paid for using money set aside for the city's portion of the trail system, said Patsy Christie, director of planning and community development. Jim Reed, alderman, said he thinks the price is "rather high."
The markers will help those using the trail system to measure the distance they've traveled, Christie said. The idea is similar to that of the mile markers on Interstate 49.
The signs could also help with safety. They could help emergency responders more easily and quickly find people on the trail who need their help, said Capt. Dustin Kelley, public information officer with the Springdale Fire Department.
Christie said the markers will look similar to wooden posts already on parts of the trail. They will also have the city's logo and logos for the Walton Family Foundation, Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission and the Razorback Greenway.
Officials are planning for markers in all of the cities to be installed by May 1, Christie said
The trail in Springdale will begin in the north at an underpass at I-49 and Apple Blossom Avenue, go south near Hunt Elementary School, around Lake Springdale, along Spring Creek, through the downtown area and connect to the Lake Fayetteville area, Christie said.
Mayor Doug Sprouse said he recently spent time on the greenway and found the area going south from the downtown area to the area around Don Tyson Parkway is flat. He said that portion of the trail will be good for families.
"Downtown is going to be the show place, I think, of the greenway," he said.
A dedication for the trail system is set for May 2 in Springdale with groups riding or walking to the site from other cities on the trails.
City officials are also planning to work with the Illinois River Watershed Partnership to clean Spring Creek, parts of which are visible from the trail system, Sprouse said. Trash, such as grocery bags, will be removed from the creek.
"It'll be all hands on deck that day," he said. " We're going to have it ready for the grand opening."
The tentative date for the clean-up is March 7 and is open to public volunteers, Sprouse said. Those who wish to help can call the mayor's office at 479-750-8114.
NW News on 02/11/2015