Arkansas Drops $16 Million on Trails, Sidewalks, and Bike Routes — And It's Just the Latest Move in a Long Game
The Arkansas Department of Transportation has just put $16.1 million on the table for trails, sidewalks, bicycle infrastructure, and pedestrian safety improvements across the state — and the sheer geographic spread of the awards tells a story that goes well beyond road maintenance budgets and municipal planning cycles. This is a state betting on its own outdoor identity, project by project, mile by mile.
ARDOT awarded more than $16.1 million in federal funding for 47 projects across the state, including improvements to sidewalks, walking trails, bicycle routes, and recreational facilities. The money flows through two distinct federal channels — each targeting a different tier of the outdoor infrastructure ecosystem — and the recipients range from mid-sized cities chasing greenway networks to small communities that have never had a decent place to take a morning walk.
How the Money Works: TAP and RTP Explained
Understanding where this money comes from matters, because it explains both the opportunity and the complexity that local communities have to navigate to get a piece of it. Neither program is a simple check in the mail.
The Transportation Alternatives Program was reauthorized by the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and provides funding for programs and projects defined as transportation alternatives for pedestrians, bicyclists, and other non-motorized forms of transportation. It operates as a reimbursement-type grant program that provides for an 80% federal share and a 20% local match from eligible applicants. That cost-sharing structure is critical — towns that want in have to show up with real money, which filters out low-commitment applicants and ensures communities have skin in the game.
The Transportation Alternatives Program will provide approximately $14.7 million for 38 projects, while the Recreational Trails Program will provide approximately $1.4 million for nine projects. On the TAP side, the eligible project list is impressively wide. Eligible projects can include construction of on-road and off-road trail facilities that include sidewalks, bicycle infrastructure, pedestrian and bicycle signals, lighting, and other safety-related infrastructure, while conversion of abandoned railroad corridors for pedestrian and bicycle trails is also eligible.
The RTP operates a little differently. The Recreational Trails Program is funded through a portion of TAP funds set aside specifically for recreational trails, and these funds are eligible for maintenance and restoration of existing trails, development and rehabilitation of trailside and trailhead facilities and trail linkages, and construction of new trails. In other words, TAP is the broader infrastructure play, while RTP is specifically for the places people go to actually move their bodies for the love of it — not just to get from A to B.
Since 2015, ARDOT has awarded over 520 TAP projects and 150 RTP projects, with approximately $15 million per year available under TAP and approximately $1.4 million per year available under RTP. Those numbers put the current round in proper context: this is an ongoing, consistent pipeline of investment, not a one-time windfall. Arkansas has been building toward something for over a decade.
The Big Awards: Where the Largest Chunks Are Going
Little Rock: Otter Creek Gets a Pedestrian Overhaul
The single largest grant in this round isn't going to Northwest Arkansas's already-celebrated trail network or to a college town with an active outdoor culture. It's going to a stretch of Southwest Little Rock that most people drive past at 50 miles per hour without thinking twice. Little Rock received $1.6 million for pedestrian improvements along Highway 5/Stagecoach Road, between Otter Creek Road and Baseline Road. This is a corridor that has historically underserved pedestrians — a heavily trafficked arterial with limited safe crossing options — and the investment signals that the city is serious about connecting its southern neighborhoods to the broader active transportation network.
Jonesboro: Craighead Forest Gets a New Link
Jonesboro will receive $922,000 for the Culberhouse multi-use trail connector at Craighead Forest. Craighead Forest Park is already one of northeast Arkansas's most visited outdoor destinations — a 680-acre lake-centered park with hiking and mountain biking trails that draws riders and hikers from across the region. A multi-use connector trail is exactly the kind of infrastructure that turns a good outdoor destination into a great one, linking the park more directly into the city's broader trail circulation system and making it accessible to residents who don't necessarily arrive by car. For the MTB crowd, this is the kind of gap-closing investment that makes the difference between a trail system that works and one that requires a shuttle.
Sheridan: Starting from Scratch
Sheridan in Grant County received $714,000 for the first phase of the Sheridan Parks Trail System. This is a ground-up effort — a community building its outdoor recreation infrastructure essentially from zero. Phase one awards like this one are often the hardest to secure, because there's no existing trail to point to, no ridership data to cite, no proof of concept. Sheridan getting this funding is a meaningful signal that ARDOT and the federal programs behind it are willing to invest in communities that are just starting to build the case for outdoor infrastructure.
Paragould: The Eight Mile Creek Machine Keeps Rolling
Of all the projects in this round, the Paragould Eight Mile Creek Trail award may be the most instructive case study in how patient, persistent trail development actually works. The City of Paragould received $650,000 in funding from the 2026 Transportation Alternatives Program for the construction of Phase 7 of the 8-Mile Creek Trail. Phase 7. The trail has been growing one grant cycle at a time for years, and the community has stayed in the program round after round. The city was finishing an extension of the Eight Mile Creek Trail from Rotary Park to Bland Park, with that Phase 4 extension being the latest segment constructed at the time. Now Phase 7 has cleared funding, adding another section to what is becoming one of the more substantial linear trail systems in the Arkansas Delta region. According to parks officials, residents living near the trail have access to it from one end to the other — which is exactly what a properly built urban trail system should deliver.
Batesville and the White River Connection
Batesville will get $500,000 for the Batesville Greenway extension along White River Boulevard. The White River corridor is one of the more scenically compelling backdrops for a greenway trail in the state — a wide, free-flowing Ozark river with limestone bluffs and significant fishing pressure. Extending a greenway along that corridor doesn't just create a walking and cycling route; it provides a gateway to a stretch of river that most people only access by truck and boat. Connecting pedestrian infrastructure to natural waterway corridors is a pattern that has paid off enormously in cities like Chattanooga and Greenville, and Batesville appears to be following that playbook with intent.
Northwest Arkansas Picks Up $2 Million More
Separate from the broader statewide round, Northwest Arkansas — already the state's most ambitious trail-building region — added another layer of investment. The cities of Bella Vista, Fayetteville, Gentry, Johnson, Pea Ridge, Tontitown, and John Brown University in Siloam Springs will receive a combined $2.22 million in federal money for trail and transportation-related improvements. The individual projects include a hawk signal crossing on Arkansas Highway 72 in Fayetteville, a trail tunnel along Arkansas Highway 112 in Johnson, and trail construction in Tontitown — all of which chip away at the last remaining gaps in what has become one of the most complete urban trail ecosystems in the American South.
The anchor of that ecosystem is the Razorback Regional Greenway. The Razorback Regional Greenway is a 40-mile, primarily off-road, shared-use trail that extends from south Fayetteville to the city of Bella Vista in Northwest Arkansas. That corridor has been years in the making — the concept of a regional greenway project has been a goal of regional planners, cities, and residents of Northwest Arkansas for more than two decades. The current round of investments represents the next chapter of expansion and refinement around that spine, filling gaps that still break up otherwise continuous riding and running routes. The Razorback Greenway Corridor Plan examines the full length of the 40-mile corridor across seven Northwest Arkansas cities and establishes a shared vision for how the Greenway functions as an active transportation spine, public space, and organizing element for growth, with strategies tailored to urban, suburban, and rural contexts.
Northeast Arkansas Gets Its Share — and Hoxie's Rail-to-Trail Stands Out
Among the nine Recreational Trails Program projects in this round, one in particular deserves attention for what it represents as a model. The City of Hoxie received an $85,000 RTP award for its Rail to Trails safety resurfacing project. Rail-to-trail conversions are one of the most efficient forms of trail building in the country — repurposing abandoned rail corridors into recreation infrastructure that follows level, continuous grades through countryside that would otherwise be inaccessible on foot or by bike. Arkansas has significant potential for rail-to-trail development given its historic rail network, and funding can also be used to convert abandoned railroad corridors into walking and bicycling trails. Hoxie's resurfacing project is the kind of maintenance investment that keeps an existing asset alive and usable — unglamorous work, but essential.
The Broader Pipeline: Arkansas Has Been Building Momentum for Years
The $16.1 million 2026 TAP/RTP round doesn't exist in a vacuum. It is part of a sustained, multi-year investment pattern that has been steadily transforming Arkansas's outdoor infrastructure. In December 2024, ARDOT awarded $19.2 million in grants to fund 65 recreational trail and transportation projects through TAP and RTP programs — a larger round by project count, covering a broader swath of the state. That round included projects like the Hot Springs Stokes Creek Greenway Trail Phase 2, the Paragould Eight Mile Creek Trail Phase 5, and a pedestrian bridge over Booneville Creek in Logan County — a diverse portfolio of urban, suburban, and small-town investments.
Alongside the ARDOT programs, the state has been running parallel investment tracks. The Sanders administration revived the Great Strides program in 2024 after it went dormant in 2017, with funding coming from Arkansas's Tobacco Settlement Fund. Since 2001, the Great Strides program has funded 105 projects in 58 counties, totaling more than $3.8 million. These are smaller grants — focused on health and fitness trails in communities that may not have the capacity to navigate the more complex federal reimbursement programs — but they fill a real gap at the grassroots level.
At the federal level, the Great American Outdoors Act has added another layer to the investment stack. The Great American Outdoors Act has invested nearly $52.5 million in Arkansas public lands. The Legacy Restoration Fund has already financed major projects at Hot Springs National Park, Buffalo National River, and Dale Bumpers White River National Wildlife Refuge. These are the kinds of improvements — maintained trails, functional trailheads, accessible facilities — that make the difference between a federal land that draws visitors and one that quietly declines through deferred maintenance. National Park Service and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service properties in Arkansas still face nearly $248 million in deferred maintenance and repair needs, a gap that underscores just how much work remains even as the recent investment wave is significant.
Tourism, Economics, and Why This All Matters Beyond Recreation
Trail funding decisions have a way of being dismissed as niche — amenities for cyclists and joggers rather than serious economic infrastructure. The data coming out of Arkansas suggests that framing is badly outdated. About 50.7 million people visited the state of Arkansas in 2023. Northwest Arkansas led the state in tourism in 2024, and the region saw a 4.9% increase in visitors. Those visitors are not coming for casinos or beach resorts. A significant portion are coming for exactly the kind of outdoor infrastructure that the TAP and RTP programs are building and expanding.
Outdoor recreation has contributed meaningfully to Arkansas's GDP, supported more than 68,000 jobs, and generated nearly 8% of all state tax revenue, according to Katherine Andrews, director of Arkansas's Office of Outdoor Recreation. That's not a rounding error. An industry that accounts for 8% of state tax revenue and supports tens of thousands of jobs deserves infrastructure investment at scale — and the cumulative TAP, RTP, Great Strides, Great American Outdoors Act, and Land and Water Conservation Fund dollars flowing into the state represent exactly that kind of commitment.
The broader strategic framework is spelled out explicitly in the state's planning documents. The Arkansas Office of Outdoor Recreation released the 2025-2030 Statewide Comprehensive Outdoor Recreation Plan, a five-year strategic guide that assesses the state's outdoor recreation needs and sets priorities for future development. The document, funded in part by the Land and Water Conservation Fund, is a requirement for continued eligibility for federal recreation funding — meaning Arkansas has done the planning homework necessary to keep the federal dollars flowing for at least the next several years.
What the 80/20 Model Means for Communities on the Ground
The mechanics of the TAP reimbursement structure deserve more attention than they typically get in coverage of these grants, because they shape which communities can actually take advantage of the program and which ones get left out. The TAP grant is reauthorized under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and is a reimbursement-type grant program providing for an 80% federal share with a 20% match required from the eligible sponsor. That 20% local match sounds modest, but for a small Arkansas town pursuing a $500,000 project, it represents $100,000 that has to come from somewhere — general revenue, a local bond, a foundation grant, or some combination. Communities without strong budgets or grant-writing capacity are at a structural disadvantage, which is part of why the Great Strides program — with its simpler application process and Tobacco Settlement Fund source — matters as a complement to the federal programs.
The reimbursement mechanism adds another layer of complexity. Unlike a direct grant where money arrives upfront, TAP and RTP projects require recipients to spend first and get reimbursed later. For a city with healthy cash flow, that's manageable. For a small municipality or a nonprofit trail organization operating on thin margins, financing a multi-hundred-thousand-dollar project while waiting for federal reimbursement can be a genuine obstacle. It's one of the friction points in the system that doesn't often surface in announcement press releases but is very real for the people managing these projects on the ground.
What Gets Built and Who Uses It
Multi-Use Trails: The Workhorse of the Portfolio
The majority of the 2026 TAP awards are going toward multi-use trail construction and extension — shared-use paths that accommodate runners, cyclists, walkers with strollers, and inline skaters. In the context of outdoor adventure, these are the infrastructure backbone. They're where riders log training miles, where weekend warriors get their first taste of extended cycling, and where trail runners find routes that don't require driving to a trailhead. They also serve a genuine transportation function: in communities with these trails, cycling to work and to school becomes a realistic option that doesn't require negotiating with truck traffic on rural highways.
Greenways Along Water Corridors
Several of the highest-profile projects in this round follow river and creek corridors — the Eight Mile Creek Trail in Paragould, the Batesville Greenway along White River Boulevard, the Stokes Creek Greenway in Hot Springs from prior rounds. Water corridor greenways have a unique character. The grade is reliably flat, which makes them accessible to a broader range of users. The scenery changes with the seasons in ways that keep routes interesting across hundreds of repeat trips. And they create linear connections between parks, neighborhoods, and natural areas that simply don't exist in grid-based street networks.
Sidewalks That Actually Connect Something
Not every project in this round is a trail. A meaningful portion of the TAP awards are going toward sidewalks — and not just any sidewalks, but connective ones. Texarkana received $600,000 for sidewalk improvements along East Ninth Street, a commercial corridor where pedestrian infrastructure has historically been inconsistent. The distinction between a sidewalk that dead-ends after three blocks and one that connects a residential neighborhood to a park, a school, or a transit stop is enormous — and the projects in this round appear to be targeting the latter. Among the recipients are communities and organizations in southern, central, and western Arkansas, including projects in Pike, Scott, Jefferson, Calhoun, Grant, Lonoke, and Prairie counties — a geographic spread that makes clear this isn't a program serving only the state's largest cities.
The Competitive Landscape: How Arkansas Compares
Arkansas's investment trajectory puts it in increasingly competitive company nationally. The state has historically been underrated as an outdoor destination by coastal audiences, but that perception has been shifting — driven by the success of the Razorback Greenway, the Bentonville mountain bike scene, and aggressive investment in state park infrastructure. The TAP and RTP programs give Arkansas a reliable federal funding mechanism that many states have used effectively and many others have underutilized. By consistently fielding strong project applications and maintaining a statewide planning framework through the SCORP process, Arkansas has positioned itself to capture a steady share of the roughly $15 million per year available statewide under TAP.
The comparison to what Northwest Arkansas has built over two decades is instructive for communities elsewhere in the state. Northwest Arkansas continues to rapidly grow in population, with many new residents moving there specifically to use one of the region's most noteworthy quality-of-life features: parks, trails, and recreational spaces throughout the cities — and along with that growth has come an increase in federal grants and donations to maintain and upgrade those spaces. The trail network didn't just follow the population growth; it helped drive it. Communities across the rest of Arkansas are now attempting to replicate that dynamic at their own scale, and the 2026 TAP/RTP round represents one more round of investment in that attempt.
What Comes Next
The 2026 round is already funded and the project list is set, but the pipeline keeps moving. Recreational Trails Program grants can be used to maintain and restore existing trails, develop new trails, improve trailheads and other facilities, and establish connections between recreational routes — and every new trail creates demand for the next extension. Paragould is on Phase 7 of Eight Mile Creek. Batesville is extending its greenway. Jonesboro is connecting Craighead Forest to the city trail network. Each of these projects, when complete, will generate new ridership, new community advocacy, and new grant applications for the phases that follow.
The infrastructure logic is self-reinforcing: trails create trail users, trail users create political will for more trails, and political will translates into competitive grant applications and local matching funds. Arkansas has been running that flywheel long enough now that momentum is real and measurable. The $16.1 million announced in October 2026 is the latest rotation — not the last.
