Metroplan allots $1.6M for transport plans, including 65-mile recreational trail from Little Rock to Hot Springs

A map showing the proposed extension of the Arkansas River Trail
A map showing the proposed extension of the Arkansas River Trail

A 65-mile recreational trail was awarded $400,000 and 13 other transportation projects also secured funding Wednesday after central Arkansas leaders debated how to divvy up federal dollars.

Pulaski and Saline counties each secured $200,000 in federal Transportation Alternatives Program money for the design of the Southwest Trail.

On top of the award, the two counties have pledged to contribute 20 percent of the awarded amount, or $40,000 each, in addition to money the counties had previously pledged for the trail project.

Metroplan, the federally designated metropolitan planning organization for central Arkansas, administered the federal funds.

The trail's design, at an estimated $3.2 million cost, is also funded by a $2.65 million federal lands access program grant, plus $520,000 promised from Pulaski, Saline and Garland counties combined to satisfy a 20 percent local match requirement to receive that grant.

When built, trail users will be able to travel between Little Rock Central High School and Hot Springs along an abandoned railway corridor.

An engineering firm hasn't been selected for the project yet, and the design will take at least a year, Barbara Richard, the Pulaski County public works director, said.

Then, there's the land acquisition phase before any groundbreaking. A projected completion date is years away.

Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola touched on the trail's timeline as he and other Metroplan board members pushed to subsidize small and medium-size projects in small and medium-size towns.

Members were presented with 16 trail, bridge and road improvement proposals, totaling $4.28 million in funding requests. Metroplan had about $1.6 million in grant money to give out.

Last week, a committee scored proposals on common criteria. The committee also created two funding schemes, which the board reviewed Wednesday.

Option one would have given money to the seven top scorers. Option two -- which the board eventually approved Wednesday -- gave money to all 16 projects but allocated more money to the top-tier endeavors.

The Southwest Trail proposals were ranked the highest. Each county asked for $400,000. Each would have received $320,000 each under the first funding scheme.

The state Department of Parks and Tourism and the cities of North Little Rock, Little Rock and Lonoke submitted the next highest-rated projects. In the bottom half were undertakings in Maumelle, Cabot and Shannon Hills, among others.

Stodola advocated for the second funding option. Unlike designs for the Southwest Trail, which will take years and years to complete, smaller endeavors "are things people can see," he said.

If only large-scale operations are given money, Stodola said, "our small communities that sit around this table are always going to be left out."

Under option one, Little Rock would have gotten one grant: $160,000 for a Arkansas River Trail connection with Kavanaugh Boulevard and Allsopp Park.

With the second option, Little Rock was awarded the $160,000 and got $50,000 for a "Complete Streets Plan," a city commitment to making streets safer for pedestrians and bicyclists.

Shannon Hills Mayor Mike Kemp said he didn't want the board to "continue to cater to the counties and larger cities."

"We don't have any other options" for funding, whereas larger municipalities have other resources available, said Kemp, who oversees the town of 3,800.

North Little Rock Mayor Joe Smith disagreed.

If everyone is rewarded for just applying, Metroplan board members "are going to go, 'Uh oh. We created a monster'" when applications increase next cycle, Smith said.

Barry Hyde, the county judge for Pulaski County, who did not attend the meeting, said in a letter that giving money to each project "makes no sense."

"We have grading standards for a reason. We should either use them or repeal them," Hyde wrote.

As the debate died down Wednesday, Maumelle Mayor Mike Watson posed a question: Why was the board considering a proposal from the state Parks and Tourism Department?

The agency asked for $182,900 to help build a new bike and pedestrian path at Pinnacle Mountain State Park.

Watson said a state agency should look to the state for money.

The motion to fund option two, with wording that the Pinnacle path not be funded, passed 10-7.

Lynn Warren, a landscape architect with the state parks department, said the agency is disappointed but still plans to proceed with the new path.

Before adjourning, Tab Townsell, Metroplan's executive director and former Conway mayor, said he saw the need for future discussion on how funding is divvied up.

Townsell said he understood Kemp's and Stodola's points of view, but when he was a board member, he "never liked splitting the baby like King Solomon."

Metro on 02/01/2018

*CLARIFICATION: The Southwest Trail will run between the Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site and Hot Springs National Park. This article did not clarify that the trail will connect two federal lands.

Upcoming Events