Participants race at the Oz Cross cyclocross event on Millsap Mountain in Fayetteville last November.
Photo: Todd Gill, Fayetteville Flyer
City staff last week unveiled the preliminary master plan for a new cycling park in Fayetteville.
It’s called Centennial Park and it sits atop Millsap Mountain, which the city purchased last year using a grant and loan from the Walton Family Foundation. The plan is to build a 228-acre public park that features state-of-the-art mountain bike, cyclocross and trail running facilities.
The land is adjacent to Interstate 49 between Wedington Drive and MLK Jr. Boulevard, and was previously owned by Centennial Bank. The land sits just a few miles north of the Kessler Mountain Regional Park and across I-49 from Markham Hill.
There are currently no active uses on the land, but the property was used in November for Oz Cross, a national-level cyclocross race. The area will also be the site of a UCI C2 cyclocross race in October, and the 2022 Cyclocross World Championships.
The proposal includes a 1.9-mile cyclocross course with a hardened start area, mounds with stairs, a 20mx70m pit and two flyovers.
A 3.6-mile cross country mountain bike course is also proposed with several steep or technical climbs, a dual slalom section, and rock gravity areas.
Other cycling amenities include over 3 miles of beginner trails, several downhill gravity lines, a gravel “gateway” trail, a 10-foot paved shared-use path, and connections to other nearby trail systems.
The plans also show other features, including a performance stage, picnic areas, an adventure playground, a canopy walk, places for hammocks, an open green space for events, permanent paved parking spaces, temporary soft-surface parking areas, and primitive-style campsites.
The city’s Parks and Recreation Advisory Board is set to consider the proposal next month, but for now, city staff are asking for input on the preliminary drawings.
More information can be viewed at www.fayetteville-ar.gov/centennialpark. To submit online feedback, visit www.fayetteville-ar.gov/speakup.
Click the images below for larger versions of the drawings, created by NWA Trailblazers and CEI Engineering.
Proposed Centennial Park Master Plan
