200 miles of bike trails will be created as part of a $278 million project in central Arkansas

Conway, Arkansas – A 200-mile bike track connecting Faulkner, Lonoke, Pulaski, and Saline Counties will soon be built as part of a nearly $280 million project that spans many counties.

The Central Arkansas Greenways Plan is the name of this Metroplan initiative.

A smaller-scale infrastructure plan, according to Bobby Kelly III of the city of Conway, will enable the city’s bike routes grow.

Their initiative is known as Connect Conway.

He said that their $24.6 million initiative was supported by the US Department of Transportation.

“It’s gonna be expanding at a pretty rapid rate, so 15 years from now you’re gonna come back and think, where did all of this kind of stuff come from?” Kelly said. “It’s gonna be a game changer, it’s gonna be fully transformational.”

Stone Dam Creek and Turtle Creek, which are already two excellent trails, are not connected to one another or to neighboring towns, according to Kelly.

He claimed that the timing of their endeavor in conjunction with the Greenways Plan could not have been better.

“This is special, whenever this is done it will be the backbone in all directions to really flush out a more intricate, a more connected network to get people from point a to point b,” he said.

According to Kelly, the Greenways Plan will provide a distinct mode of transportation for people who walk or ride bicycles.

“Not having a vehicle or a working vehicle shouldn’t stop you from being able to get to a job interview, get to a medical appointment or any other kind of opportunities. This will allow that,” Kelly said.

Will Jenkins has been bicycling for about a year now. He thinks there should have been more places to ride a bike in the city during that time.

“A dedicated multi-used path is gonna make a lot more people feel more comfortable getting on a bike,” Jenkins said.

Jenkins thinks that the Greenways initiative will encourage more people to consider riding, particularly if it is safe.

“There’s probably a large group of people who would like to get into and they just wanna make sure that they’re taking care of themselves and their families, especially if they wanna bring their kids with them,” he said.

The Ride’s co-owner Eric Lemon thinks the 200-mile trail will provide businesses outside the state additional access.

“It puts our area on the map kinda on the map for folks that wanna travel from not just around the US but really kind of around the world,” Lemon said. “They wanna travel to a destination when they can get on their bike and they can go see different communities.”

According to Kelly, work on Connect Conway will start in 2027.