A CITY GRANT LIGHTS THE WAY FOR SUCCESS IN LEVY
BRIAN CHILSON
BY GRIFFIN COOP
Crosswalk at 34th and Camp Robinson in Levy.
S
ometimes the wheels of government turn slowly, but that doesn’t mean things aren’t moving in the right direction. Nine years ago, the city of North Little Rock received a grant for $2.3 million to improve transportation options and spur economic development in the city’s Levy area near Interstate 40. Today, the project is nearly complete with new sidewalks and crosswalks in place and new lighting and landscaping on the way. The area is home to several small businesses, including restaurants, a small grocery store and a church with residential areas nearby. Metroplan awarded the grant in 2013, but the project dragged on for years as the city held “countless meetings” with stakeholders, according to the city’s director of development, Robert Birch. Birch took over the program in July 2019 when it was only about 50% complete with the goal of getting it to construction. “Over the eight, nine years prior to construction starting, it was a very slow process,” Birch said. “It was a lot of meetings with community members [and] walking the area, but it was a time for
62 | BLOCK, STREET & BUILDING VOLUME 8 | 2022
getting some plans going and moving.” The project moved to construction in January 2021, and today it’s nearly complete. Sidewalks and decorative crosswalks have been installed and parking spots have been created along some of the streets. The city also changed some zoning in the area to create more mixed-use development and narrowed Camp Robinson Road to two lanes to slow traffic passing through the area. New lighting and landscaping will be added as well. Metroplan Executive Director Tab Townsell described the Levy project as an attempt to “redefine the cultural life and economic future of an older corridor by creating a full-spectrum transportation system in that corridor that is both sensitive to the users of the system and the land uses alongside it.” Construction created a few hassles for the neighborhood, but Birch said most people involved understood it was good for the community in the long run. “I told a lot of the business owners, ‘it’s going to be a headache while it’s being built,’” Birch said. “But the long-term future of
