PHOTOS: Take an early look at the Meadow Valley Trail tunnel under Garland Avenue
A street-level view of the Meadow Valley Trail tunnel looking east across Garland Avenue.
Photos: Todd Gill, Flyer staff
Construction is nearly complete on Meadow Valley Trail, a highly anticipated connection that will link west Fayetteville to the backbone of the city’s trail system.
The 2.3-mile trail, which runs east-west from the Mt. Comfort Road bike lanes to Scull Creek Trail, is set to officially open in August.
One of the trail’s biggest highlights is a tunnel under Garland Avenue (Arkansas Highway 112) that measures 12 feet wide and 10 feet tall. The 270-foot tunnel stretches from Agri Park on the east side of Garland to the Pauline Whitaker Animal Science Arena on Knapp Drive near the entrance of the Washington County Fairgrounds.
This is the first tunnel built exclusively for the trail system. The handful of other trail tunnels in Fayetteville are storm drains that were adapted to allow for bike and pedestrian use.
While the trail isn’t officially open yet, construction of the tunnel is mostly complete and residents are welcome to walk through and check it out.
We grabbed some photos at dusk and dark last night, and followed up this morning with a few daylight shots from the inside, approaches, and entrances of the tunnel.
The tunnel’s lighting system stays on 24 hours a day, with the exception of the outermost energy-saving photocell units which automatically turn off during daylight hours.
Have a look:
very cool!!!
How much did this tunnel cost? Since the tunnel is on UofA property I am sure they paid the bill. Why waste energy by using lights 24 hours a day this is stupid and wasteful there are inexpensive ways to automate these lights to save energy.
It’s a tunnel. I’m assuming it’s long enough that sections of it would remain completely dark without the lights, even during the day. There have to be lights on for safety reasons.
Maybe they should have built some sort of mirror system to project the light at the ends of the tunnel into the middle of the tunnel. Or maybe they could have cut out part of the road above the middle of the tunnel and inserted a grate system to project the light down but then the tunnel would probably get really wet when it rains. I guess we could just get volunteers to stand down there with flashlights if the light bill ever runs too high.
The LED lights use very little electricity, and they project plenty of light throughout the tunnel.
Each LED fixture has a light sensor. The lights near the exit shut off during the day.
Waaaahtttt-Wahhhhh. Debbie Downer, Ladies and Gentlemen….
Wow.
I have been waiting for the west side to get connected for a long time.
Your comment proves that the chip on my shoulder is valid – there will always be a liberal/republican fool that puts a damper on my mood.
Hope nobody gets sex-murdered or gay-married in that tunnel. That’s how you will know its the end times.
The tunnel looks great!. I cant wait to check it out.
Glad they are doing this – I look forward to the trail.
I’m also glad the tunnel has lights.
Not so sure it’s on University property.
I took a walk through the tunnel last week following one of the storms. I wanted to see how the drains handled the runoff. The tunnel was well lit, wide enough for five or six walkers, and dry. I was prepared to not like the tunnel, and to complain about it being too narrow and dark. Instead I walked away very impressed with our city’s first pedestrian designed tunnel. The other tunnels started out life as storm water drains so they don’t count.
Throw in a bit of landscaping exterior lights, and some shade, and you’ve got yourself a great pedestrian asset.
There you go again, being reasonable and calmly discussing facts. You violated two cardinal rules of blog comments: 1, never draw on first hand observation before posting, and 2 do not say anything favorable about the topic, You’ve got to work on those.
I completely agree. I checked it out a few weeks ago when everyone was complaining about the proposed tunnel under MLK. If the new tunnel is like this one, I’m in favor of it.
Thanks for the photos. Look forward to walking it.
Looks like a nice place to unleash a bit of the old ultraviolence on an unsuspecting wino when out with your droogies.
Krovvy his litso real horrorshow, O my brothers.
too funny, you guys made my day
Sweet tunnel! I wanna take my fender and pig nose amp down there and get psychedelic!
What no dead bodies being molested by druggies and winos? I swear that’s all that happened in tunnels according to what I read on here during the last tunnel discussion.
So cool the city did this and great to hear that it drains well. Looking forward to going and taking a look at it. From the pictures it looks like a big, fancy cattle chute…which raises some safety concerns about not having a safe exit route. I’ve heard so many first-hand accounts of harassment on the trails lately y’know? Can anyone whose been out there and seen it give an opinion on that?
I think the biggest issue will be kids taking advantage of the wall climbing opportunities. I’ll be disappointed if this doesn’t happen. Keeping Fayetteville funky requires wall climbing, long boards, and banjo playing. There is a set of stairs near the east entrance to the tunnel.
Have never been harassed (or harassed others) on the trail myself, but I’m a tall, semi-fat, middle-aged guy. Other might be having different experiences.
FYI, the mud around the storm drain is from the storm washout where the stairs are being installed. So mud won’t be a problem once the stairs have been built.
Jerry’s right. There are actually two stairways planned, one that connects to Agri Park and one in front of the arena on the other side of the highway. They’re just dirt paths right now, though.
Looks really bare to me! Need to commission some public art before it becomes graffiti central…
i’m so proud of my town for actually getting off its arse and implementing this.
i’ve heard people from across the country mention our expanding system, without them knowing i was from here.
I think I speak for all Debbies when I say we object to this ‘downer’ defamation.
Perhaps a better title for our little complainer at the top of the thread is Princess Cranky Pants.
Has the extension to the main trail actually been completed? I last walked that stretch about a week ago and didn’t notice a new connection.
The last I heard, it will be late summer before the trail connection is made.
Wow!! Those pics look great! I’m excited to ride the trail! There’s one pic that looks a little scary (curvy) from a bicycle point of view…