NW Arkansas’ growth rate up

Urban population increased at 15th-fastest pace in nation

— Northwest Arkansas’ urban population grew at among the fastest rates in the country from 2000 to 2010, according to new information from the U.S. census.

The region’s growth rate ranked 15th of all urbanized areas across the country, according to new census data released this week. No other urbanized area in Arkansas grew enough to crack the top 20.

The U.S. census released a report Monday on the nation’s urban population, based on the 2010 Census. The report shows that urban areas account for 80.7 percent of the U.S. population, up from 79 percent in 2000.

In Arkansas, the urban population constitutes 56.2 percent of the population, with 39.5 percent living in urbanized areas, according to the census. The census classifies “urbanized areas” as those with at least 50,000 people. The urban population also consists of “urban clusters” of at least 2,500 people.

Urbanized areas are based on the population density of census blocks and do not follow established boundaries for cities and counties.

Since 1990, the censusdesignated urbanized area in Northwest Arkansas has expanded from portions of five cities and one county to portions of 18 cities, two counties and a small portion of Missouri, said Jeff Hawkins, director of the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission. The urbanized population increased from 74,880 in 1990 to 172,585 in 2000 and then to 295,083 in 2010.

The urbanized population count surprised planners at the regional planning commission, who had predicted the count would fall within a range of 225,000 and 260,000, Hawkins said.

“It was larger and it encompassed a bigger area,” Hawkins said.

The urbanized population has grown enough that the region qualifies for an estimated $7 million or more in federal transportation funding as a newly designated transportation management area, Hawkins said. The money goes directly to the region for use within the urbanized area, and projects will be prioritized through the commission’s Transportation Policy Committee, which includes representatives from all cities in Benton and Washington counties.

“We have no shortage of No. 1 projects that are really needed,” Hawkins said.

Because the urbanized area stretches into six more cities, those cities will be subject to federal regulations for managing stormwater runoff, Hawkins said. They are Bella Vista, Cave Springs, Centerton, Pea Ridge, Prairie Grove and Tontitown.

The increased development in Northwest Arkansas is evident in Prairie Grove. From 2000 to 2010, Prairie Grove’s population nearly doubled to 4,300 residents. The city added seven subdivisions and 900 housing units, said Larry Oelrich, Prairie Grove director of public works and administrative services.

Development is nearly seamless from Fayetteville to Farmington to Prairie Grove.

“There’s really no separation between the cities,” Oelrich said.

Portions of Prairie Grove are part of the expanded “urbanized area” of Northwest Arkansas, according to new information from the U.S. census.

“It’s something that we’ve been anticipating for 10 years,” Oelrich said.

In Centerton, Mayor Bill Edwards estimates that the city’s population has exceeded 10,000, though the official census count was 9,515, he said. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., with headquarters in nearby Bentonville, and its suppliers have fueled the growth, he said.

“The whole region’s grown,” he said. “We still have building going on.”

The urbanized area of Northwest Arkansas encompasses portions of these 18 communities: Bella Vista, Bentonville, Bethel Heights, Cave Springs, Centerton, Elkins, Elm Springs, Farmington, Fayetteville, Greenland, Johnson, Little Flock, Lowell, Pea Ridge, Prairie Grove, Rogers, Springdale and Tontitown. The urbanized area also includes portions of Benton and Washington counties and a small parcel along U.S. 71 that crosses the Arkansas-Missouri state line.

Arkansas’ urbanized area has 1,587 people per square mile, while Northwest Arkansas’ has 1,572 people per square mile, the census said.

The nation’s most densely populated urbanized area is Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim, Calif., with nearly 7,000 people per square mile.

Urbanized areas in the U.S., taken together, had an overall population density of 2,534 people per square mile, according to the census.

The South had the lowest percentage of urban population in the nation, with 75.8 percent in urban areas.

Arkansas, Pages 8 on 03/29/2012

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