It has been several years since North Little Rock promised to revamp roadways in the Park Hill area, but change is coming soon.
Development Director Robert Birch said the project, known as the Park Hill Jump Start Program, aims to make the area more user-friendly for pedestrians and bicyclists by allowing them to safely cross heavily used JFK Boulevard. Officials expect to hold a groundbreaking ceremony sometime in April.
"What we are waiting on at the moment is to get documents signed from property owners for temporary construction easements to be placed in front of their businesses," Birch said Thursday. "We are also waiting on some documents to be approved on some driveway closures to make it a safer area to drive through."
Birch said he hopes to have the documents approved by the end of this week, which would allow officials to submit their plans to the Arkansas Department of Transportation for approval.
"[The Department of Transportation] has already reviewed the 90% plan and were pleased with them, so I don't think that we will have a hold-up," he said.
The project will redesign sidewalks and crosswalks from A Avenue to H Avenue in the Park Hill area.
The changes will make the area more walkable in an effort to attract retail business and restaurants. It also will give the area a unique style.
"The streets and sidewalks will be milled and repaved, and medians will be rebuilt with new landscape," Birch said. "The design was picked by community and business leaders to represent their community."
A similar project, the Levy Jump Start Program, broke ground in December. Work is underway on the Levy program, which will run from 33rd Street to 38th Street.
Planning focused on the Levy and Park Hill neighborhoods has been in the works for the past seven years, according to city officials. The goal is to encourage redevelopment of the areas as places to live, work and play in a compact urban setting.
"Seven years ago Metroplan came out with a series of grants to support economic development, revitalize some areas that have been underserved," Birch said. "When the process started, we submitted five locations and Metroplan accepted two, Park Hill and Levy. I believe we were the only city to have two areas approved."
Birch said the Park Hill project will cost around $2.8 million, with $660,000 paid by the city.
Metroplan Executive Director Tab Townsell has said the organization is dedicated to seeing both projects completed.
"We love this project, and we are dedicated to this project," Townsell said during the Levy groundbreaking ceremony. "We are dedicated to revitalizing the streets and the neighborhoods around them."
The Park Hill project has taken longer to complete than the Levy project because officials had to make a workable design around Arkansas Highway 107, which is maintained by the Highway Department.
"It's not our city street so the Highway Department has the final say on any design," Birch said. "They have given us a pretty good amount of freedom, but this wasn't one of the things we had to worry about as much with the Levy project because it's not a state highway. We had a little more freedom then to make or explain some decisions with the project."
Another challenge is that Park Hill is built on top of a hard rock surface, which makes it difficult to bury some utilities.
"We would have liked to have done some additional things, but the expense to break that surface was too much," Birch said.
The two projects are similar, but Birch said the Park Hill design will be completely different from the Levy design.
"The sidewalk design will have a different concrete and have this kind of rolling hills type look," he said. "There will also be an emblem with the Park Hill logo that will set it apart."
Birch said enthusiasm within the neighborhood has died down over the past seven years.
"A lot of people are hesitant when it comes to new things, but I think everybody will be excited about the upgrades because it has been rough to drive through one of the main thoroughfares of our city," he said. "The infrastructure in Park Hill is pretty beat up. This allows us to make it safer."
Community meetings were held over the past couple of years to help build the excitement level back around the area.
"I would say 95% of the feedback we have received has been positive," Birch said. "The 5% don't like change or don't think it's enough, but we did a design that was workable for the highway department. It's not our city street, and as much as some in the community wanted, we had to stay within the grant."
Improving safety will be one of the main things the project will address.
"Personally, I don't feel safe walking that close to the road when cars are going 30 to 40 mph past you," he said. "This will redo those sidewalks and put some barriers between you and the road."
Birch said he hopes this is only the start of revamping North Little Rock over the next few years.
"We are already starting a meeting on the March 11 Census Tract study for East Broadway," he said. "Hopefully this is not a seven-year project. We are hoping to move quicker this time to keep the enthusiasm high."