Tuesday, June 18, 2019

Along The Trail- Openings NLR and Two Rivers Bridge

Things are finally starting to get back to normal along the River Trail. There is still a lot to be done but along both sides of the river, but crews were busy with the clean up and some key portions of the trail have re-opened in the last day or two.


 In North Little Rock, the flood gates are gone from Riverfront Park and the Broadway Bridge Ramp is now open. The trail is open to Fort Roots, but River Road still had barriers up Tuesday afternoon. I ran into a NLR city official who had just assessed the area, and he said the trail is ridable to Burns Park with only a couple of areas of sand. Hopefully, the barriers will be removed soon.

On the Little Rock side, The BDB gates are open and Two Rivers Bridge and Park are open!
 The flood gates are gone and the park is open, along with the River Trail Broadway Bridge ramp.
The Clinton Park Bridge remains inexplicably closed. I've ridden to both ends and have not seen any reason for its continued closure. 

Though River Road is still barricaded, I have a reliable report that the trail is ridable. I know that the parks folks are trying to get the sand off the trail and don't need a lot of traffic interfering with the effort. I talked to some volunteers who were cleaning the skate park earlier in the week, ready to get back on their boards. The bowl was still a mess but the parks folks promised that they would take care of that portion of the clean up.

The BDB has been open from the Little Rock side for a couple of days. Gates and the park remain closed on the north side. 

There was a lot of activity all along the riverfront. 

 This is likely the biggest news. Two Rivers Bridge and Park are open!!

There were fire hoses and sweepers in use in many areas. I usually see rigs like this employed to settle dust in construction areas and my conclusion is that it was doing little to move the sand off the roads, but good effort. 

The dust and sand is not too bad on the bike, but add water and you've got a mess.


Everyone is working hard and devoting a lot of resources to recover from the recent flooding. While many people have suffered devastating damage and more inconvenience than what we trail users have experienced, but we're ready to see "normal" along the trail. Thanks to all those who are lending a hand.