ROGERS -- Ideas from a recent trip to Denmark are turning into plans for Rogers to be more accessible to cyclists.
Nathan Becknell, a professional engineer for the city, went on a five-day study tour to Copenhagen in June at the behest of Rogers Mayor Greg Hines. Bicycle Coalition of the Ozarks took 17 representatives from Northwest Arkansas to examine infrastructure systems that account for large amounts of cycling commuters. The trip was paid for with a $106,882 grant from the Walton Family Foundation.
Becknell saw a number of practices he said could be implemented in Northwest Arkansas, including bike lanes and sidewalks on both sides of roads. City transportation maintenance equipment and staff also were more evenly divided among types of travelers, such as vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians, he said.
Another idea is to make cycling lanes safe based on the speed zone for vehicles. A city could provide painted bike lanes for zones of 25 mph, install a curb to separate areas where drivers are going 30 to 40 mph and create separate cycling tracks for speed zones of 45 mph and higher.
Transportation is a key component of preserving a sense of place, which is an initiative the Walton Family Foundation's 2020 Home Region Plan, Karen Minkel, the foundation's home region program director, said in June. The plan is the foundation's blueprint for grant-making through 2020.
The foundation invested more than $50 million developing Northwest Arkansas trails between 2000 and November 2015, including $43 million for paved, multiuse trails and $8 million for natural-surface trails.
Becknell plans to reach out to community members, including those who live and work downtown, school administrators, business owners and stakeholders to judge their comfort level with the ideas.
"We want to see if they're interested in things like this," he said during a Rogers Park and Recreation Commission meeting Wednesday.
No specific money has been set aside for these projects, but sales tax money has been used to pay for the trails, he said.
Jared Sorrells, a salesman for Highroller Cyclery in Rogers, said he'd like to see more bicycle lanes and spurs of trails off the Razorback Greenway to make commuting easier and safer.
"The greenway can get you to downtowns and the AMP," but commuting requires more area, Sorrells said Thursday. "I can commute, but my wife wouldn't because the greenway doesn't come by my house. If it moved into more neighborhoods without taking you on the main road" more people might make their way to work by bicycle, he said.
"Share the road" signs, such as ones in Avoca that picture a vehicle, a bicycle and a horse, might be helpful, too, Sorrells said.
He, his wife and infant daughter have to load bicycles onto a car and drive to a safe point before enjoying some recreation if they want to stroll or cycle the trails together, he said.
The next step for Becknell after community feedback would be to conduct trial runs around the downtown of some of the ideas for a week at a time. He said cones or wooden planters could be used to create a bike lane on a road, for example.
"We'll measure conditions before and after, take a look at 'How did it work?'" he said.
Becknell has started a downtown plan for the city and aims to create a Safe Routes to School plan that maximizes the number of children biking to school. The downtown plan is in the concept phase, but once finalized it would be conducted over about 12 months.
"People have asked for us to provide bike infrastructure," Becknell said. "We want to provide a safe way to get around on bikes."
NW News on 07/22/2016