Photos: Todd Gill, Fayetteville Flyer

Two key pieces of infrastructure are now in place on the new Niokaska Creek Trail in northeast Fayetteville.

A 100-foot-long trail bridge was installed Thursday over Niokaska Creek, just north of the intersection of Crossover Road and Old Wire Road where a trail tunnel was installed earlier this year. The work is part of a project that will eventually link the Razorback Greenway to Gulley Park.

Matt Mihalevich, the city’s trails coordinator, watched Thursday morning as a crew with Multi-Craft Contractors prepared two cranes to lift the 30,000-pound bridge into place onto concrete supports on each side of the stream.

“This one is very exciting,” Mihalevich said. “It is going to be an amazing connection.”

Once complete, the trail will travel from Gulley Park northeast alongside Niokaska Creek towards Crossover Road. From there, it leads under Old Wire Road at the intersection of Crossover, and continues north with the creek through Sweetbriar Park before heading west on a path on the north side of Sweetbriar Drive to connect with Mud Creek Trail at Old Missouri Road.

Mihalevich said the new trail will run within a quarter mile of an estimated 4,000 Fayetteville residents who previously had no nearby access to the trail system.

If all goes according to plan, the new trail will be fully open in Spring 2020.