By: Haley Berley
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The city of Fayetteville upgraded the bike trails lining Gulley Park with a one-of-a-kind improvement that includes accessibility for those with disabilities.
“The ADA [American’s with Disabilities Act] is critical for our new facilities, anything we’re building from right here, everything about this project is accessible to accommodate users of all abilities.” Matthew Mihalevich, the city’s Trail Coordinator said.
These accessibilities are made possible with the five percent incline on sidewalks, following ADA regulations.
Along with the new sidewalks, there is a separate pathway for bikers in between the pedestrian sidewalk and road. This pathway goes both north and south-bound, creating two lanes.
Mayor Lioneld Jordan held a ribbon-cutting ceremony at Gulley Park today [Nov. 4] at 3 p.m. to present the “world-class” trail. “An estimated 4,000 people live within a half-mile. They now have a safe option to bike or walk to Gulley Park.” Mayor Jordan said at the ceremony.
City officials set up counters on the trail to track how many riders passed through on a regular basis for a 10 day period. The total number of trips was 915 with a daily average of 83 trips.
The goal of the project is to connect Old Wire Road to the city’s already existing network of trails and roadways. But in addition, what you can’t see is over 4,000 linear feet of storm pipe installed to help prevent flooding.
Automatic bike lights were also installed in the traffic signals. This allows bikers to ride up to the light and the light automatically adjusts for them to cross and keep riding.
“I’m just so thankful Fayetteville has this system. That’s what I like about this, we can go from here up to Bentonville without having to get in a car, where else can you do that in Arkansas?” Fayetteville resident Carla Crawley said at the ceremony.