FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 9, 2018
Contact: Matt Mihalevich
Trails Coordinator
Engineering Division
mmihalevich@fayetteville-ar.gov
479.444.3416
Lane Closures on Rolling Hills Drive for Protected Bike Lane Pilot Project Installation
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark.— The City of Fayetteville joins Springdale and Siloam Springs for a “Protected Bike Lane Pilot Project” funded by the Walton Family Foundation. BikeNWA, a Northwest Arkansas region bicycling advocacy organization, has designed and planned the installations with consultants and the staff from the three cities. BikeNWA has also organized lane closures and volunteers for installation of the projects. The materials used in each project are temporary and can be removed at the end of the 12-month pilot period. In Fayetteville, two roads have been chosen for the pilot:
- Rolling Hills Drive (between Old Missouri Road and N. College Avenue/Highway 71B)
- Appleby Road (between N. College Avenue/Highway 71B and the Razorback Greenway, near Gregg Avenue)
The “test before you invest” intention of the pilot is for temporary roadway retrofits to test protected bike lane strategies of connect existing bicycling infrastructure such as trails and bike lanes. The goal of the pilot is to increase level of comfort felt by bicyclists and ultimately, the number of riders. Data of bicycle counts as well as vehicle counts and speeds have already been collected and will be compared to counts taken at the end of the pilot period.
Both Rolling Hills Drive and Appleby Road will receive similar pavement painting, but each will have different physical barriers. The pavement paint is:
- white striping on each side of the road, acting as a visual separator between bicyclists and drivers;
- green pavement paint in “conflict areas,” such as driveways and intersections, acting as a strong visual reminder for both drivers and bicyclists to be attentive in the area.
Rolling Hills Drive, which is wider than Appleby Road, will receive three-foot-long wheel stops (similar to wheel stops in parking lots) on each side of the roadway in the white hatch-striped buffer areas. Appleby Road will receive white road reflectors (sometimes called raised pavement markers) on each side of the roadway on the white edge striped area.
Rolling Hills Drive will have alternating east- and westbound lane closures from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Wednesday, November 14 through Friday, November 16. Please use caution when traveling through the area and watch for volunteers who are bolting in 600 wheel stops along the bike lanes. Volunteers will be painting the conflict areas when temperatures meet manufacturers specifications. Appleby Road installation will occur before the end of November.
To learn how you can volunteer and more information about the Fayetteville or other pilot projects, please visit this BikeNWA webpage.
For information about all things biking, including future trail and connection improvements, please visit www.fayetteville-ar.gov/bike.
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