Public sees design for last link in river trail

— More than 40 people attended a public hearing Thursday to view a proposed design to fill in the “missing link” of the Arkansas River Trail along the river’s south bank just west of downtown Little Rock.

The design envisions a 4,500-foot trail segment hugging the river bluffs just above the water. It begins, on the east, just before the Baring Cross Bridge and extends west to Cantrell Road and Gill Street, winding behind the Packet House and the headquarters of Dillard’s Inc.

Right-of-way for the segment has yet to be acquired.

The segment features a 16-foot-wide pedestrian and bicycle trail that winds over six bridges or bridge like structures and past four overlooks.

When completed, the segment will finish a 34-mile trail that begins at the Clinton Presidential Park Bridge, which opened earlier this month, and ends at the recently completed Two Rivers Park Bridge at Pinnacle Mountain State Park.

Along the way, the trail will connect 24 parks and 12 museums, and about 82,500 residents and 104,000 jobs are located within 1.5 miles of the trail, according to Jacobs Engineering Group, which is designing the segment through Metroplan, the central Arkansas region’s long-range transpor-tation planning agency.

Project manager Mark Asher of Jacobs Engineering was among the engineers who fielded questions at the public hearing, held at the Pulaski County Regional Center at 501 W. Markham St. Metroplan has $592,000 in federal funds and $148,000 from Pulaski County to complete the engineering and environmental studies.

“Everybody seems encouraged and excited,” he said.

The engineering firm will analyze the comments from the public hearing, refine the alignment, complete the environmental reviews of the project and develop the final plans and specifications, Asher said.

Beyond that, the cost to build the segment or when it will be built is unclear, though the city of Little Rock has been pursuing a federal grant to finance the project.

The unknowns of the project didn’t bother people, many of them bicycling enthusiasts who wandered around viewing detailed diagrams of the project, poster-size drawings of different aspects of the project and a video narrated by Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola.

As it stands now, the segment is a longtime concern within the bicycling community or for anyone else who has tried to pedal or walk the route. Now, bicyclists and pedestrians must navigate the five-foot sidewalk on the Cantrell Road bridge or the road itself, which is a major east-west artery for cars and trucks in the city.

“This project is all about safety,” said Michael Troeger of Little Rock, who described himself as a recreational bicyclist and rides the trail loop a couple of times a week.

Nicole Ellis, who said she didn’t take up bicycling until she and her husband received bicycles as wedding gifts, called the Cantrell Road segment “kind of scary.”

“Completing the system here would be nothing but a benefit,” she said.

Her husband, Mason Ellis, an architect, is blogging about trying to get around the city without a car for a month.He predicted that if the trail segment is built, it would be “one of the crown jewels of the river trail.”

Janet Nye of Maumelle, who rides her bicycle 80 to 150 miles a week, said the improvements along the segment are sorely needed.

“The best day to ride,” she said, is during the Little Rock Marathon, when that segment of Cantrell Road is closed to traffic for the 26.2-mile race held every March.

“It’s really needed,” Nye said of the proposed trail segment.

Arkansas, Pages 9 on 10/28/2011

Upcoming Events