Equipment added to
inclusive play area
Two new pieces of inclusive play equipment and a communication board have been installed at the One Heart Playground in Burns Park, according to a city news release sent Friday.
One piece of a equipment is a swing from Scotland that allows wheelchair-bound children to be pushed back and forth, the release stated. The purchase of the equipment makes North Little Rock only one of five cities in the country to have this type of swing.
Amber Havens, Program Leader for Therapeutic Recreation, conducted the opening dedication, and Mayor Joe Smith spoke about the importance of the playground.
The inclusive playground that opened in 2017 can be used by kids with varying degrees of physical and sensory impairments. It also allows guardians who have physical impairments to play with their children.
Sixth Street project
nearing completion
The Sixth Street extension project in North Little Rock is nearing its final stages.
City officials estimate the last two parts will take about another month to finish, according to a Wednesday news release.
Construction crews are moving a trolley pole to allow traffic to flow through the street once asphalting is completed. Cranes are expected this week to move the pole into a hole filled with concrete. Once that task is completed, it will take about four weeks to complete the project, according to a post on the city's Facebook page.
The city release stated that the street extension and the two parking lots created from it are part of a $1.8 million federal Economic Development Administration grant that was tied to the number of jobs created because of the project.
The City Council approved in 2018 a one-block addition to Sixth Street downtown that also created a pair of parking lots, all to accommodate new development, including the Argenta Plaza public space.
Sixth Street used to extend from Main Street and east from Magnolia Street to Cypress Street, next to Interstate 30, but there was no street between Main and Magnolia where tracks lead into and out of the Rock Region Metro trolley barn.
The expansion was needed to provide access to First Orion and the plaza and other developments such as apartment complexes.