Scull Creek Trail UNDER railroad bridge cuts floodway in half and will back water up over low-water bridge

Please click on images to enlarge view of Scull Creek Trail between Cleveland and Maple Streets.


One of the worst examples of trail planning in Fayetteville is the filled area and paving under the railroad bridge between Cleveland Street and Maple Street. Filling the already narrow floodway will inevitably slow the flow during flash floods and cause floodwater to back up to the southeast and over the low-water bridge that carries vehicles and pedestrian traffic across the creek west of Wilson Park. How often will this happen. Yearly, once in 10 or 20 years? Once is all it will take to drown a car load of people. This work was completed just in time for the mayoral election with no public hearing on the environmental impact and probably with no ruling from the U.S. Corps of Engineers or the ADEQ. While some joggers and bicyclists may have thought it was admirable, anyone with knowledge of the watershed would have said NO. Hundreds of trees were removed from the riparian zone of the stream to squeeze the trail in and the few that remain standing are at risk because their roots were cut or buried. Future trails must be kept away from the streams as far as possible. Construction cost further from the streams would be less expensive as well as less harmful to the greenbelt along the streams.