A sign near the south side of Lake Fayetteville informs trail goers of an upcoming extension which will create a 5.5-mile paved loop around the lake.
Todd Gill, Fayetteville Flyer
Trail goers at Lake Fayetteville are set to finally have a fully-paved, 5.5-mile loop around the lake.
City trails coordinator Matt Mihalevich said an upcoming project, which should begin this summer, will add one mile of concrete to the already paved 4.5-mile trail circling the lake.
Pedestrians walk along Lake Fayetteville Trail on the west side of the lake Saturday afternoon. Trail goers will soon be able to circle the entire lake without ever leaving the pavement.
Courtesy photo
Trail users currently have to either stop and turn around or walk along a narrow mountain bike and nature trail once the pavement ends near Veterans Memorial Park on the south side of the lake.
“This has been highly requested by people,” Mihalevich told members of the Active Transportation Advisory Committee last week.
According to design documents provided by city staff, the new paved section shouldn’t interfere with the dirt trail which runs along the lakeside.
“Because of the deep ravines in the area, we had to design the new portion of trail to be a little further from the edge of the lake where the nature trail is,” said Mihalevich.
Mihalevich said the city was able to secure an $80,000 federal grant administered by the Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department to put towards the estimated $500,000 cost of the project.
We’ve included a map below which shows the location of the planned addition as well as the existing path on both sides of Veterans Memorial Park.
Map by Todd Gill (Click to enlarge)
