BENTONVILLE -- The orange construction barrels and yellow construction tape that slowly have moved south down North Walton Boulevard soon will disappear, and in their place will be a new trail.
The completion of North Walton Trail Project is anticipated for the end of July or early August, said Ben Peters, city engineer.
About The City Trail System
The Bentonville Trail system consists of three looped trails within the parks — Memorial Park, Lake Bella Vista and Park Springs Park — seven pedestrian pathways and bikeways along city streets, an all-terrain mountain bike trail and on-road bicycle routes, creating a network of more than 20 miles.
Source: Bentonville Parks and Recreation website
The $825,000 project includes 1.3 miles of a 10-foot-wide concrete trail. A $250,000 federal grant and $200,000 Walton Family Foundation grant will cover more than half the cost. The city will pay the remaining $375,000, according to Bryan Wick with the city's Engineering Department.
The project stretches from Peel Mansion just north of the Wal-Mart Supercenter to the Phillips 66 station at Northwest 13th Street.
The trail is done and construction debris is cleared from Northwest 13th Street south to Northwest 11th Street. Dirt piles and tall grass line North Walton Boulevard from Northwest 11th Street to about Northwest Third Street, where construction barrels lead to where crews are working at Central Avenue.
Arco Excavation and Paving is building the trail. Work began in January. The section between Central Avenue and Peel Mansion is all that remains.
"They probably have about 1,000 feet left," Wick said.
That section is right in front of Taco Bell, Sonic Drive In, two Vietnamese restaurants and a dental office. Their access drives on North Walton Boulevard are large strips of gravel. Motorists must navigate around bulky construction barrels and large equipment to enter and exit.
That hasn't stopped James Winchester and his daughters from continuing to go to Sonic during its "happy hour. " It's an activity they do a couple times a week, he said. Winchester and his three daughters stopped there Tuesday afternoon to grab some ice cream shakes.
The temporary inconvenience caused by the construction will be rewarding once the project is done, Winchester said.
"The finished project is going to be amazing," he said, adding he was familiar with the city's efforts to focus on enhancing the North Walton Boulevard corridor. "I think the revitalization program is going to make it better for everybody."
Melanie Harrison, Sonic general manager, agreed -- even though construction has slowed business, especially last week.
"It looks like we're kinda closed," she said. "We're trying our best to get customers in."
Construction forced the location to close during happy hour last week, which resulted in about 3,000 lost sales, Harrison said. Happy hour is 2 to 4 p.m. daily and is the business' most active time, she said.
Harrison said she believes the project will help business in the long run by providing more access for cyclists and pedestrians. She said she's thinking about how an outdoor seating space could be created to accommodate customers who aren't in cars.
There's another trail project under way to connect the city's North Walton Trail to the North Bentonville Trail near the Bark Park, Peters said. It's a privately funded project so the city doesn't know many of its details, he said.
Once that is complete, the trial will give users connectivity from Bella Vista to the Bentonville Community Center south of Southwest Airport Regional Boulevard.
NW News on 07/02/2015