If You Can Wander Here, You Can Wander Anywhere

While traveling to Tennessee to visit my wife’s mother, we stopped in Conway, Arkansas for a couple of days to visit my wife’s sister and her family. Because we were traveling with dogs, we stayed in a Motel 6 overlooking a Walmart parking lot. After having breakfast at the Waffle House next to the motel, it was time to walk the dogs. And nothing says, “let’s go for a walk”, like the combination of a Motel 6, Waffle House, and Walmart.

But as we started, good things began to happen. We immediately spotted a gap in the motel parking lot fence with a path leading towards the Walmart. Gaps in a fence are always an invitation to continue walking. We followed the path and then headed to the backside of the Walmart. There we could see a wooded area in the distance.

We had walked to these woods in the past as it had a couple of paths that we had followed before. Many of those walks were cut short because the woods were oftentimes too wet and boggy. But this time the woods were different. There was new construction in the area and the woods now had groomed trails with interpretive signs, wetlands with natural vegetation, and great places to sit.

We followed one of the new paths and soon found one of the old rustic trails and took it. Even though there was road noise from the nearby Interstate, the path was wonderful. The leaves were changing and the floor was covered with pine needles.

There is nothing quite like the texture of walking on a bed of pine needles. It’s like wearing cushioned insoles in your shoes. And one of the great pleasures of walking in the fall is the different textures under your feet. In some places it’s the acorns cracking under your feet; in others it’s the rustling of leaves; and here it was the soft quiet of walking on pine needles. It was so peaceful.

As we circled around and came to the end of the natural area, we saw a new office building very close to the where the natural area begins. My first thought was, “what a great place to work!” Can you imagine taking your lunch to the natural area and sitting on a bench while watching wildlife in the marsh?

We also saw a new housing development to the left of the office building. This is not your typical development!  Every house was a historical home design typical of the 1850s and early 1900s. And from a distance we could tell that in addition to having attractive houses that the neighborhood was developed to encourage walking. We walked towards the houses to check this out.

And our suspicions were confirmed. There were pedestrian footbridges over the small stream leading into the natural area. The sidewalks were set a few feet away from the street to encourage walking. Nothing cuts a walk short than a sidewalk right next to the street. The houses were set relatively close to the sidewalk to encourage walking. And trappings regarding the family automobile were forced to the alley behind the houses.

And to ice the cake, there were footpaths in the middle of the block leading to the next street. This is right out of the Jane Jacobs and “New Urbanism” playbook. “Pedestrian only” short cuts make it easy to get around a neighborhood and are critical for encouraging walking. Certainly the gap in the fence that led us to this wonderful neighborhood is also a form of a “pedestrian only” short cut.

We soon learned that the housing development, office building, and natural area are all part of joint effort involving the Southwest Energy (the occupant of the office building), the City of Conway, and nearby Hendrix College. In fact all the land involved was once owned by Hendrix College.

In addition to providing open space for the city, office building, and neighborhood, the natural area was reconstructed to filter a polluted stream. Water now comes out cleaner than it comes in. The entire package is a major win for the City of Conway. And the total development package would make a nice template for other projects across the country. But there is more to come.

As we continued walking, we soon reached the commercial portion of the development. There the restaurants and shops are right on the sidewalk. Just like an old fashion Main Street. Above the commercial building several floors have been set aside for student housing.

What a great mix for a neighborhood. Young people going to college, mixed aged people living in the housing, and office workers walking over to buy lunch or to shop. This should only get better as the neighborhood fills out and matures.

But our walk didn’t stop here. From here we followed a pedestrian overpass into the Hendrix College campus. The road under the underpass used to be, at best, a congested six-lane eyesore. Today it is a pleasant divided parkway with stylistic lighting and two lanes in each direction. To smooth traffic flow and reduce overall speed, two roundabouts have been added in front of the college. All of these contribute to making a neighborhood a great place to walk.

We continued walking through the campus and soon reached a pedestrian tunnel passing under the same road crossed by the overpass. But this was not your typical tunnel. This tunnel sang. It was “Harmonic Fugue” designed by Christopher Janney.

Walking through it was amazing. Depending on how you passed the sensors or waved your hands in front of them, the tunnel would play synthesized music and perform a light show. If you’re not careful, you could easily spend a half hour here conducting your own symphony.

But we had to get on our way and finally started heading back to our Motel 6. Who would have suspected that so much could be found by following a path that began with a gap in a fence separating a Motel 6 from a Walmart parking lot in the middle of Arkansas? As the title of this blog post states, if you can wander here, you can wander anywhere. And you can.