SPRINGDALE -- The City Council is expected to vote today to spend about $800,000 on trail projects and accept a donation of land with a connector trail.
The city is nearly finished with Dean's Trail, which runs across the eastern side of Springdale. The council will consider a contract to design the final phases of the trail, which will connect its south end with the trails at Lake Fayetteville, built by the city of Fayetteville.
Mike Peters, Springdale's active transportation planner, will present to the council a $534,500 contract with Garver, an engineering firm based in North Little Rock. Garver designed Dean's Trail from its first steps at the Jones Center to East Robinson Avenue.
The final phase will run from the city Animal Shelter on Don Tyson Parkway along Ivey Lane to Lake Fayetteville, Peters said.
Construction continues on a tunnel under East Robinson Avenue, said Ryan Carr, assistant director of the Engineering Department.
The money for trails comes from the city's street fund in the Public Works budget, said Colby Fulfer, city chief of staff. The fund held $8.9 million at the end of the day Thursday, according to Cody Loerts, the city's assistant director of finance.
City services like road and sidewalk repair, summer paving projects and more also come from that fund, Loerts said.
Not many grants are available for trail design, but grants are available for construction and city staff will seek those grants, Peters said. The designs for the trail must be submitted to apply for construction grants, he noted.
"We want to be ready when it comes time to apply for grants," Peters said.
"I'm happy if we make some more progress," said Dean LaGrone, chairman of the city's Trails Committee. "Now it's going to come down to funding and community support."
LaGrone determined the approximate route for Dean's Trail, which is named in his honor.
The council also will consider a $110,670 contract with McClelland Consulting Engineers for design of an extension of Spring Creek Trail. The 12-foot-wide, multiuse trail extension would run for about half a mile.
The path would lead from the trails at the J.B. and Johnelle Hunt Ozark Highlands Nature Center and travel west, under Interstate 49, to Whittle Road, Peters said.
The Spring Creek Trail ultimately will connect with Arkansas 112. The state Transportation Department plans to widen the highway and include a trail path.
A map provided by the city shows much of the land around this phase of Spring Creek Trail lies in the creek's flood way -- as does much of the trail through the city.
Several floods of Spring Creek have damaged some of the city's trail heads over the past five years. This spring's deluge pulled the asphalt off the trailhead parking lots at Sanders Avenue and Thunder Chicken Mountain Bike Trail near Lake Springdale.
The city will replace the surfaces with concrete, which is thicker and more durable, whereas asphalt is flexible, Carr said. Water gets under it and pumps up the asphalt and wears the subgrade. The Sanders parking lot is right next to the creek.
Concrete has been more expensive than asphalt, so the city covered the parking lots with asphalt. But the bids for the projects showed concrete now costs less than asphalt -- $239,912 for concrete and $290,482 for asphalt.
The council will vote on the $239,912 bid from Crabtree Concrete of Springdale, which includes milling to remove the asphalt, reinforced steel bars and painting stripes to mark parking spaces.
The council also will consider accepting a donation of land that holds another city trail, yet to be named. The trail runs from the Jones Center to the neighborhood adjacent to the trailhead parking lot for Fitzgerald Mountain Bike Trails.
The donation comes from NWA Trailblazers, a nonprofit organization that develops multiuse trails throughout the region. The Trailblazers also deeded to the city the land that holds the Fitzgerald trails.
The city accepts the responsibility for maintaining the trails along with the land, Mayor Doug Sprouse said.
The land donation includes a lot in the Hidden Hills subdivision and a 2.3-acre strip behind the neighborhood. The properties together hold an assessed value of $30,400, according to the Washington County assessor's website.
A bicycle is locked Thursday to a bicycle rack at the western end of the Spring Creek Trail at the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission's J.B. and Johnell Hunt Ozark Highland Family Nature Center as traffic passes in the background on Interstate 49 in Springdale. The city of Springdale has hired a firm to design a half-mile extension of Spring Creek Trail. The trail will run west from the nature center, under Interstate 49, to Whittle Road. Visit nwaonline.com/220904Daily/ for today's photo gallery. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Andy Shupe)
A bridge stands Thursday along the Spring Creek Trail at the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission's J.B. and Johnell Hunt Ozark Highland Family Nature Center in Springdale. The city of Springdale has hired a firm to design a half-mile extension of Spring Creek Trail. The trail will run west from the nature center, under Interstate 49, to Whittle Road. Visit nwaonline.com/220904Daily/ for today's photo gallery. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Andy Shupe)
A cyclist rides Thursday along the Spring Creek Trail at the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission's J.B. and Johnell Hunt Ozark Highland Family Nature Center in Springdale. The city of Springdale has hired a firm to design a half-mile extension of Spring Creek Trail. The trail will run west from the nature center, under Interstate 49, to Whittle Road. Visit nwaonline.com/220904Daily/ for today's photo gallery. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Andy Shupe)