The City of Conway is bringing in a citywide infrastructure project, with a 24.6 million dollar grant from the United States Department of Transportation. 

The Connect Conway project will build a bike and pedestrian trail to do exactly that, connect Conway. 

Beginning at the Don Owen Sports Complex the infrastructure will move south toward the future soccer complex. The soccer complex is expected to open by next year, including a splash pad, walking trail and ten playing fields. 

The paved sidewalk and biking trail will then run past the future soccer complex, 

connecting the Theodore Jones Elementary and Bob Courtway Middle School parallel to I-40, going south.

The path then turns, going west on Sixth Street, down to Bruce Street, then continues to St. Joseph Schools, Central Baptist College and Sallie Cone Preschool. 

UCA students should also be expecting this path to appear on the southern portion of campus.

“Connect Conway will be transformational not only because of its size and complexity but also because it will encourage more people to become more active as a pedestrian or cyclist,” said Terry Coddington, a bike and pedestrian coordinator. 

Connect Conway will pave a trail for cyclists, students, or any other member of the community, at a reasonable distance from motor vehicles.

Creating the infrastructure to travel to key points in the city can effectively pave the way for community members without access to motorized vehicles. 

“It’s going to be great for, obviously, recreational purposes, but it’s also going to be huge in terms of giving people the option for alternative modes of transportation,” said Bobby Kelly, communications coordinator for the City of Conway.

The project is also a part of a larger environmental sustainability purpose from the United States Department of Transportation. 

An integral part of the federal grant received by the city was the commitment to designing infrastructure to foster alternative means of public transportation aside from automobile transportation. 

The 15-mile infrastructure connects economically disadvantaged areas of the city to both East and Western portions of the city. 

This serves as an effective way to promote community participation and local economic opportunities alike. 

Currently, the project is working on right-of-way acquisitions before furthering plans.

“The City of Conway has never undertaken a project of this magnitude that’s with a primary focus on pedestrians and cyclists, not vehicular transportation,” said city engineer Kurt Jones. “It’s a game changer from that perspective.” The project remains at the precipice of construction. 

Another project coming soon to Conway is the Conway Community Center. This new facility will include various indoor party rooms, tracks and be equipped with a competitive eight lane competitive pool. The aquatic facility will also include another outdoor pool with various slides and a lazy river.

“I can’t wait to see how this fits into people’s trajectories in life, and seeing how this place will turn into this social epicenter of gathering with family, to blow off some steam,” Kelly said.