Scull Creek Trail should be well under way with a known completion date by this time next year, said Fayetteville Transportation Manager Terry Gulley during a Sidewalk and Trails Committee tour of projects Wednesday.
Committee members shared handshakes, hugs and mutual congratulations on the steps of the City Administration Building the day after a decision by Fayetteville voters to spend an additional $ 2. 1 million on trail improvements in the city’s sales tax election.
“ Trail was a four letter word back in ‘ 96; but it isn’t anymore and we love it, ” said Celia Scott Silkwood, a long time committee member.
Matt Mihalevich, trails coordinator, said money from the sales tax will be used to help acquire property if needed, and for construction of crossings, such as providing a way under or over North Street for Scull Creek Trail users.
“ That sales tax issue is going to help us out with that crossing to make it as safe as possible. It’s going to accelerate the construction process for Scull Creek Trail a lot, Milhalevich said.
The money will also make it possible to bid bridge work for the project, he said.
Members of the committee sat on a partially built retaining wall next to a portion of the trail cur- rently under construction, slapping at mosquitoes as Gulley, Milhalevich and City Councilman Kyle Cook stood on the trail bed to talk about the trail’s status.
The first section, near Washington Regional Medical Center, is finished but generally inaccessible due to ongoing construction.
Once the Gregg Street project is under way, trail work will tie into it and give trail users the option of going under the Fulbright Expressway bridge or going through a lighted tunnel underneath the expressway, Gulley said.
Scull Creek Trail, from the parking lot at Gordon Long Park to the Fulbright Expressway, should be done by the end of the year, he said.
Three obstacles are holding up construction of some parts of the Scull Creek Trail at this time: sewer line construction, the Arkansas Highway Department’s planned construction on Gregg Street, and an easement from the University of Arkansas.
But, according to Milhalevich, progress is being made in all three instances.
Completion of the sewer piping associated with the Wastewater System Improvements program will also help trails construction.
“ Once it’s done, it will help us a lot. Sewers follow creeks, trails follow creeks, ” Mihalevich said.
“ In the meantime, we’ll be getting other pieces together; there just may be a gap until we can tie it all in, ” he said.
Later in the tour, Mihalevich stood on a Rupple Road bridge over Clabber Creek, pointing to where the trail will go under the bridge and behind homes in a new sudivision.
Seeing the newest completed segment of the Frisco Trail in downtown Fayetteville drew cheers from one committee member.
“ That was probably the most expensive section we’ll ever build, ” said Gulley, explaining that the twotenths-of-a-mile segment went between buildings and needed retaining walls.
The tour also took committee members to the middle of St. Paul Trail, which was finished this February. It was the first trail completed by the city’s trail crew.
The St. Paul Trail, from Armstrong Road to Morningside Drive was built over the old rail line that led to St. Paul. Due to a recent easement granted to the city, the trail will eventually join the White River Trail in a treelined corridor.
Committee members also were shown progress on sidewalks. Hill Avenue from Putman Street to Sixth Street was the first sidewalk laid with the city’s new slip form paver, said Gulley. They were also shown sidewalk progress on Cheryl Street and Fletcher Avenue.
One pass from the new paving machine laid as much curb and gutter as would have taken about two weeks with the old form system, Gulley said.
At the Clabber Creek stop, Cook asked committee members to think about tackling a sidewalk plan for the city, much as they had created a master trails plan.
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