Federal transportation alternative grants administered by Metroplan and announced this week will help fund the expansion of the Arkansas River Trail and the restoration of a historic bridge in Saline County, among other things.
Pulaski County received $400,000 via Metroplan to widen the Arkansas River Trail along Pinnacle Valley Road from County Farm Road to the east edge of Pinnacle Mountain State Park, giving cyclists more room to ride.
Saline County received $296,000 toward completing phase two of its Old River Bridge restoration project, which includes bridge disassembly, inspections, repairs or replacements, reassembly and painting. The bridge, if restored with even more funding, would be used for pedestrians and cyclists and would abut space owned by a group that intends to create a park in the area.
The Federal Highway Administration, which had a budget of about $38 billion in fiscal 2015, was authorized to give out $820 million in Transportation Alternative Program funds during that time. Those funds are for any pedestrian or cycling projects, or for connecting people to public transportation. The grants require a 20 percent local match.
In December, Pulaski County received $282,236 toward the project through Transportation Alternative Program grants administered by the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department.
Pulaski County officials want to widen the River Trail west from Two Rivers Park along County Farm Road to where it meets Pinnacle Valley, then north to Maumelle Park campground, about 2.4 miles. The trail widening would then extend to the east edge of Pinnacle Mountain State Park another mile, said Pulaski County Road and Bridge Director John Burton. The county would widen the bike lane along the two-lane road from 5 feet on each side to 12 feet on just one side, with 1-foot buffers.
The project is part of the county's Master Trails Plan, which calls for a set-aside trail for all of the more-than-100-mile Arkansas River Trail.
Originally projecting the cost of the project stopping at the campground to be about $400,000, Burton said widening all the way to Pinnacle Mountain State Park would use the more than $700,000 set aside for the project, adding that it is just an engineer's estimate.
"We don't have the final design yet," he said.
Last year, Pulaski County Public Works Director Barbara Richard asked the Quorum Court to appropriate $80,000 in Road and Bridge Department funds to match a grant the county might get for the project. After a contentious vote, the Quorum Court approved the expenditure 8-4, with three absent from the meeting. The funds come from Fund 97, which is specifically for matching grant funds.
At the time, some justices of the peace opposed the project because they did not support using road money for noncar projects. Others supported it as a safety measure.
In 2013, the County Farm Road portion of the River Trail -- also between Two Rivers Park and Maumelle Park -- was strewn with tacks during a bike tour, causing blown-out tires.
In the same rounds of funding -- from both the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department and Metroplan -- Saline County officials have received about $800,000 to restore the 125-year-old Old River Bridge. The bridge, which closed in 1974 after being damaged when a truck full of concrete blocks tried to drive over its wooden-planked bottom, is part of plans for an extensive cycling trail from Little Rock to Hot Springs, the Southwest Trail.
Unlike the River Trail, the Southwest Trail has not materialized but has been discussed by regional leaders for the past three years.
The next phases of the project will be building and constructing new piers for the bridge and placing the bridge back on the piers, Saline County Judge Jeff Arey said.
The local match of 20 percent from Saline County funds brings the money set aside for the project to about $1 million, Arey said. The county roughly estimates that restoring the bridge in its entirety will cost another $1.7 million, for a total project cost of $2.7 million.
Going forward, Arey said, will depend on more grants and local matches.
"There's no way we can complete this project without ... obtaining grants," he said. "But I feel pretty confident that we'll be successful."
Arey noted that Metroplan and the Highway and Transportation Department were told in their review of grant applications that the project had two additional phases.
"They know that we're only completing passes one and two and will be coming back for three and four," he said.
Arey said the project, along with the park that local group Saline Crossing intends to build and the Southwest Trail, would be boons to the Saline County economy and were another means to "enjoy the beautiful outdoors of Arkansas."
Metroplan received 18 applications requesting $5.5 million this year and selected 13 projects to receive the $2.1 million in available funding.
The other $1.4 million in projects include $160,000 for the completion of sidewalks and buffer sidewalks where feasible along Roosevelt Road in Little Rock and $240,000 for the relocation of the pedestrian Springfield-Des Arc bridge in Faulkner County.
Metro on 04/07/2016