Arkansas has a rich railroad history, the broad network of which peaked in the wartime 1940s when our small but growing population was served by nearly 5,000 miles of track. Railways traversed 74 of our 75 counties, and towns across the state--such as Paragould and Rogers--bear the names the railroad executives who made and lost fortunes investing in early Arkansas transportation.
Even Nathan Forrest's namesake in St. Francis County wasn't awarded in honor of anything he did as a Confederate general, but rather in recognition of his postwar career as a railroad executive.
Roads sprang up alongside railways, and linked villages and cities alike. Many towns in Arkansas exist because of their proximity and locality to a railroad line.
As rail transportation declined in the age of the modern highway, the number of railroads dwindled, and the railway track in use diminished. Today Arkansas still boasts almost 2,700 total rail miles, landing us in the middle of state rankings at 25th.
What happened to the roughly half of Arkansas railroad track and right-of-way that was abandoned over the last 70 years?
That's a good question with no real qualitative answers. But here's a great hypothetical: We should be primed among states to take greater advantage of rails-to-trails opportunities afforded by federal legislation and funding that promotes the conversion of former rail lines and connecting corridors to recreational purposes.
Congressional deregulation in 1980 allowed railroads to discontinue unprofitable routes, which resulted in tens of thousands of miles of rail corridor closures. In a prescient preservation move, Congress created "railbanking" as a method to save the corridors for future use as part of a national trail system. Railbanking allowed railroads to reserve use of a dormant rail line, but in the meantime sell, lease or donate the corridor to a trail manager without it reverting to adjacent landowners.
In the early 1990s, federal legislation specifically funded rails-to-trails projects, which now total some 22,472 miles of rails-trails nationwide, with another 8,385 miles being added in projects currently in development.
Arkansas' share of that total is disproportionately small. Though we have nearly 60 completed rail-trail projects, most are very short in terms of mileage. Our collective total of 71 miles is shorter than many well-known individual trails in other states.
The Katy Trail in neighboring Missouri, for example, is the nation's second-longest rail-trail at almost 240 miles in length. Nicknamed after the phonetic abbreviation of the Missouri-Kansas-Texas line (the "KT" line), the Katy Trail is a premier example of all the benefits well-planned rails-trails can reap.
Health and environmental advantages of any trail project are obvious, but sometimes the economic boosts elude comprehensive analysis.
A whole cottage industry has sprung up literally in the shadow of the former railroad corridor, which roughly follows along the Missouri River.
In tiny towns, decaying old-but-elegant homes have been restored as bed-and-breakfast inns to provide convenient lodging for cyclists taking multi-day rides. Campgrounds like Cooper's Landing stay crowded and offer restaurant opportunities. Some places that are barely incorporated corners on sparsely traveled intersections have a little eatery with bathrooms next to a trailhead.
Riders are a populous but also close-knit group, and good trails get great publicity. More and more communities have used rail-trail projects to help boost economic development.
The grass-roots nature of the movement is a powerful factor in its success. Though funded federally, trails when completed are typically maintained by local volunteer efforts. In small communities everywhere that have added a rail-trail project in the past two decades, more and more people can be heard saying, "That trail is one of the best things that ever happened to this town."
Arkansas is a natural state to build prosperously on this increasingly popular dynamic. Rail-trail projects are perfect complements since we're already known as an outdoors recreation and destination state.
Looking at an old railroad map of Arkansas, most of the criss-crossing lines are in the flatter parts of the state, primarily the northeast and southern areas. But most of the modern rail-trail projects are located along the old Frisco line stretching between Fayetteville, Springdale, Rogers and Bentonville.
Till last Saturday, when the Big River Crossing opened on the old Harahan Bridge across the Mississippi River at Memphis, there was only one Arkansas rail-trail project in the whole northeast quadrant of the state north of I-40 covering some 20 counties.
I'm proud to credit Lawrence County with developing that sole rail-trail, and I've enjoyed the 7-mile spur line from Hoxie through Walnut Ridge out to the regional airport (complete with a couple of old trestle bridges) many times.
Indeed, the Lawrence County Rail-Trail is the third-longest in the state. Only the Arkansas River Trail in Pulaski County and the Delta Heritage Trail State Park in Phillips County offer more mileage.
State after state has seen millions of dollars invested in trails over decades turn into millions of tourism dollars returned annually. In Arkansas, areas that need economic development the most also have the most railway corridors ripe for trail development.
There's money in them thar old rails--if we can capture that vision.
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Dana D. Kelley is a freelance writer from Jonesboro.
Editorial on 10/28/2016