Arkansas Blog

Opening up that stretch over Jimerson Creek would be a mistake. There are always people out there biking, walking, etc and one of the reasons is that they don't have to worry about dodging cars. Rivermountain Road, which is the road off of Cantrell down to this stretch is not a road designed to handle a lot of traffic and would need a complete makeover. They need to leave it alone and find other ways to get a lot of these out of towners down into that area. The city i s broke, the county is broke so spending tax dollars on this would be a boondoggle.

I hope there are really no plans to open this up, but based on our City planners, I am not going to be surprised to see some movement on this. They cave in to every thing else.

I would be fun to see all the ALLTEL fat cats trying to get up River Mt. Road during an ice or snow storm. I think I'll invest in some Hummer stock .....nah.

ARKDEMOCRAT is right about River Mountain Road--it's a twisty two-lane road that isn't fit for heavy traffic. In addition, opening up Rebsamen Park Road all the way to River Mountain Drive would merely relieve one "bottleneck" by emptying it into another one. The intersection of River Mountain Drive, Cantrell/Hwy. 10, and Rodney Parham is already extremely busy during rush hour, particularly in the evenings, when heavy traffic from Cantrell and I-430 push westbound traffic back past the overpass at times. Adding even more traffic to that mix couldn't possibly be a good idea, even for the Alltel types, who would merely get stuck in traffic closer to home.

The opening of the Big Dam Bridge has really increased the number of people using that area and I hear that there are plans to build another bridge from River Mountain Park across to Two Rivers Park. As Gaddis says the traffic at the Hwy 10/River Mountain Road/Rodney Parham intersection is bad almost any day of the week with traffic backing up. When you get to the Rodney Parham/10 intersection you are also about to go through stop light hell with 3-4 lights over the next 1/2 mile and traffic coming in and out so all we need is to dump more traffic into an already congested area. But as Earl says with our City Planners anything is possible, after all they just gave Jim's Razorback Pizza permission to stay open late even though the zoning said he had to close at 8, and they did approve the Summitt Mall until people sued and got that stopped.

Maybe Alltel could buy a couple of acres out by the new WalMart for a parking lot and run a couple of buses and some vans back and forth to Riverdale.

As one of our great leaders once said, the price of a peaceful Rebsamen Park road and park is eternal vigilance. All perceived threats to the current status of the road and the bridge should be addressed immediately. Keep up the good work, Max.

Just like Jim McKenzie to think the law applies to everyone but him. What arrogance.

I agree, extending the road would only create more traffic problems for folks living in the Riverdale area. It would also ruin the experience of a car free bike ride along the last section of the trail on the Little Rock side that is free of the noise and air pollution associated with cars. There are miles of the River Trail on the NLR side that provide a car-free experience. Keeping cars off of the trail and extending it to Two Rivers Park would be a good way of providing a similar experience on the LR side. If people don't like how long their commute is, they should consider moving closer to their place of work. There are tons of condos and apartments being built downtown and in the Riverdale area. There are also hundreds of vacant lots and fixer-uppers in or near historic districts located within minutes of downtown. There is absolutely no reason Metroplan or Little Rock should support or encourage sprawl. Alltel could even get in on the condo building craze and make some money while shortening their employees commutes and reducing congestion.

If the Alltel folks want to use that route out of town, let 'em ride bikes.

It's a good thing (bike riding that is, not Alltel)

Alltel execs live in Ft Worth (TPG Capital) and NYC (GSCP).

Isn't Metroplan an arm of Pulaski County Government? Should it suprise you that you got FUFOI'D?

There needs to be a ferry boat from Alltel HQ to somewhere around Cook's Landing. Stagger the time the whistle blows to get off work so everyone can catch a ride.

A pretty high-speed ferry boat, I'd guess.

Didn't Altel threaten to move elsewhere if the city didn't cave in to their demands? Aren't they already in negotiations now to be sold off to the highest bidder? Looks to me like they'll be gone no matter what the wise city fathers scheme up.

Whenever the topic of opening up this road gets tossed about we always hear from the Overlook folks who somehow think this will lessen the traffic from the unwashed who get lost up on the hill. Get ready Overlook, if this road opens up you will see traffic like you have never seen before.

The River Trail needs all the help it can get on the Little Rock side. Not much fun dodging soccer moms and movers and shakers while riding on the designated 1 1/2 foot wide bike lane. These two cities need to do everything they can to make them more bike and pedestrian friendly. I guess bikers and walkers don't build million dollar trophy houses 20 miles out of town, so we are seldom heard.

ARK. BLOG: Excellent point. In fact, I think the sale of Alltel will relieve some of the political pressure the city has been feeling. (Metroplan is doing this work for the city.) There are real needs in the Riverdale area that need to be addressed. But they need to be done without ruining a swath of Hillcrest or blasting a new escape route to the white suburbs along the scenic river corridor.

As you know, Max, the city is making repairs to the lower part of Oakwood Road and widening the Allsop Park side of the Cedar Hill at Cantrell intersection. Maybe this is part of easing the traffic congestion in the Riverdale area. The route to Kavanahgh via Cedar Hill Road is still a challenge, and the new guardrail on the up lane of Cedar Hill actually makes me more nervous when I take that route. I'm guessing that a traffic light at Kavanaugh and Cedar will be installed within the next year to facilitate the traffic flow to and from Riverdale via Cedar Hill and Oakwood.

ARK. BLOG: Over my dead body.

Thank you, Max, for watching out so diligently for what is happening on Rebsamen Park Road --- and the intersection of Cedar and Kavanaugh.