CONWAY — People who have been in Conway during rush hour probably won’t be surprised to know the population has grown 600 percent in the past 60 years — or that 89,124 motorized vehicles were registered in Faulkner County in 2010.
That’s the kind of information Roger Lewis of Conway finds every year for the Faulkner County Annual Economic Report.
“I always have a theme for the report,” Lewis said.
The 2010 theme is “60 years and 600 percent growth … not bad!”
This year marks the 60th presentation of the report, and Lewis has gathered the data for 16 of those. He also has help from an intern in the University of Central Arkansas College of Business.
Lewis, who retired in 2002 as director of institutional research at UCA, said this edition is more positive than last year’s report.
“First of all, 2009 was a down year,” Lewis said. “That was just a bad year” because of the recession.
“So 2010 is a recovery year, and it has recovered quite a bit,” he said.
“I know there’s pain out there,” Conway Mayor Tab Townsell said, “... in 2010, IC Corp. closed — but there are a lot of good things happening out there.”
Conway and Faulkner County’s unemployment rates, compared with state and national numbers, are good.
Conway was at 6.3 percent for the yearly average, and Faulkner County was at 7.4 percent.
Nationally, the average was 9.7, and in Arkansas, 7.7 in 2010.
Conway’s population in the 2010 census was 58,908, soaring from 8,610 in 1950, he said.
For Faulkner County, the population went from 25,289 in 1950 to 113,237 in 2010.
The growth started in the ’60s and ’70s, Lewis said.
“I attribute that to — one of the big projects was the missile silos in Springhill, Damascus and Center Ridge,” he said. “All the construction was pretty much coordinated in Conway, and Jacksonville at the Air Force base.”
The Conway Development Corp. started the first industrial park and landed companies such as Kimberly-Clark and what is now Snap-On tools, which contributed to growth, Lewis added.
Townsell also pointed out that Lake Conway and Beaverfork Lake were built in the 1950s, and the interstate came through in the late 1960s.
The GI Bill that provided education for veterans “drove us for quite some time” in those decades, Townsell maintained.
Speaking of driving, where there are people, there are cars.
“Over 20 years, we’ve more than doubled the number of vehicles,” Lewis said.
Motorized vehicles include motorcycles, he added.
“You can’t build roads fast enough — you have to try to improve traffic flow,” he said.
Although there are more people, building permits for single-family homes were “way down this year,” he said, referring to the 2010 report. The number of permits dropped from 259 in 2009 to 223 — the second lowest number in at least 11 years.
“Apartments have been pretty good for the past two or three years,” Lewis added, with building permits issued for 668 units last year.
Conway is home to three institutions of higher education: Hendrix College, Central Baptist College and the University of Central Arkansas.
Townsell said land to build homes on in Conway is shrinking, especially lower- to moderate-income homes.
“The speculation is a lot of the low- to moderate-income housing decisions are moving toward apartments,” he said.
More people theoretically mean more shopping.
Retail sales in Faulkner County were $1.6 billion for 2010, and 80 percent of that was in Conway.
“It’s becoming the trade center for five or six counties,” Lewis said.
“That’s just an assumption, hearsay, anecdotal,” he said.
For example, he was in Office Depot in Conway, and a woman bought the last sale item that he wanted.
She told him she’d come from Russellville to shop.
He said the new Cinemark theater in the Conway Towne Centre brings people to the city and likely keeps locals from heading to Little Rock for a movie.
Townsell threw out this tidbit: The theater opened in early December, and the Advertising and Promotion tax collected on restaurants/concessions was up 14 percent from the previous year.
“I don’t think that will hold all the time, but that will show you the effect of people deciding to stay in Conway,” he said.
Restaurant food sales were $140 million in Conway for 2010.
The top 10 restaurants in sales, not including alcohol, for 2010 are Chick-fil-A; Chili’s; TGI Friday’s; Cracker Barrel; McDonald’s on Salem Road; McDonald’s on Dave Ward Drive; MarketPlace Grill; Logan’s Roadhouse; McDonald’s on Skyline Drive; and McDonald’s on Oak Street.
Lewis pointed out that only three of the top 10 have liquor licenses — Chili’s, TGI Friday’s and Logan’s Roadhouse.
He said the late Thomas Wilson, CEO of then-First State Bank and Trust, compiled the first economic report in 1952. The first presentation was given first to the Conway Rotary Club, a tradition that has continued, he said.
The complete report can be found on Lewis’ website, www.pulseofconway.com.