Northwest Arkansas is experiencing massive growth, so it’s never short of exciting updates. The developments spread across the towns, including Fayetteville, one of the major ones, so I’m eager to share the recent updates in this article.
Lower Ramble, a new establishment in Fayetteville, is one big update that deserves more publicity. Construction is still underway, but it will be a great place to hang out with loved ones once completed. Also, the University of Arkansas set a record by enrolling 30,000 students in 2022.
In this article, I will discuss these and more significant updates in Fayetteville, so continue reading to be fascinated by this town.
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1. Lower Ramble
Nobody’s been talking about this brand-new Northwest Arkansas establishment called the Lower Ramble.
For the last couple of years, NWA has been building what used to be called the Arts Corridor in Fayetteville. It is a massive corridor from Dixon Street to Fayetteville Library for entertainment, including music, art, and similar events.
The first part is a weaving in-and-out section called the Lower Ramble that connects to Fayetteville Library, cutting through the Razorback Greenway.
It will be a great place to bring your friends and family to hang out and enjoy. There’s even a gorgeous river that cuts through it.
I was privileged enough to see the actual development process on tour, meeting all the architects involved, and this is just part of a bigger development.
It has artistic architecture that can be lit at night and leads into the Upper Ramble, a very arts-centered area with a music venue.
On top of that, they’re replacing a parking lot and putting more artistic stuff there. They are also building a larger parking lot on the north side of Dixon, but it will be more of a taller replacement.
The location will be like a more extensive Dixon Street hub connecting to the Fayetteville library.
Overall, this is a bigger plan that Fayetteville’s been creating for the last couple of years. They’re starting the following process (for Upper Ramble) in 2023, so anticipate an article about it soon.
I’m excited to see this all finished and open because it will be a great place to spend time with loved ones.
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2. Kessler Park
I’ve written much about Kessler Park because I love it and live at its base. Despite being already fantastic, they are adding four new baseball fields to the park.
Kessler was enormous and overwhelming for me when I first moved here, yet they didn’t stop there and are adding more to the park.
It’s terrific that Fayetteville and all the other surrounding areas – Bentonville, Springdale, and Rogers – invest heavily in athletics or the outdoors. One way Fayetteville does this is to invest continuously in Kessler Park. They did the ribbon-cutting ceremony in October 2022, so you can head there today for a fun time.
There are about ten baseball fields available now, built with durable facilities. They used synthetic turf that stops washouts, rainouts, etc., so it’s impressive they thought ahead of the curve and put those things there versus natural grass that demands a lot of maintenance.
If you are in Fayetteville or any other NWA town, check out Kessler because there are a lot of exciting activities, like hiking the 30 miles of trail up Kessler Mountain. It connects to Centennial Park and the Razorback Greenway, going up to Bella Vista.
You can hang out with friends and family or play on soccer fields. There’s even a play center and concession stands.
The outdoors hardly gets better anywhere else!
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Also, I have a 3-day itinerary that can help you decide what activities to do if you’re overwhelmed by everything Northwest Arkansas has to offer.
It doesn’t matter if you’re a foodie, a sports person, a sightseer, or want to spend quality time with your kids; I have something for you. Check out the link below to learn more:
https://www.allthingsnwa.com/3-day-itinerary-northwest-arkansas
3. College Numbers Hit 30,000
The University of Arkansas finally tops 30,000 students ever. Their notable feats in the last couple of years include the following:
- The employment of new coaches that have improved the athletics team
- Sam Walton Business School’s innovativeness on so many levels
- The improvement of studies at its medical and research centers
Hence, whatever direction the university’s going, they’ve been doing very well.
The athletic side has been one of the big pushes from football to baseball and basketball. It’s cool to see that track runners have won many championships in the last couple of years, ultimately drawing attention to the university to cause its exponential growth.
Moreover, the university offers a lot of in-state tuition for Texas natives. It’s a big perk of coming here if you are one because you can get it by just applying.
4. Centennial Park
Fayetteville’s Centennial Park is located right across the street from Kessler. It was built in the last couple of years so they can house the world championships for cyclocross.
The world came to Fayetteville in January 2022. While volunteering there, I had a great time seeing several people (about 20,000-30,000) who participated in the event. I met all sorts of people from Washington DC, Washington State, Colorado, etc.
Although I was pleasantly surprised initially, I realized that the world was here (in Fayetteville) for the competition, including those from Spain, France, Italy, Europe, and Australia.
That’s the sole purpose behind building the park. With all the money and effort invested into the area, it won a $500,000 scholarship grant from the state of Arkansas, being the outdoor facility of the year.
That’s remarkable because they’ve committed so much to the place to make it fantastic for people to bike, hike, and run.
It’s weird because they built it for cyclocross, so it’s different from the typical mountain biking pathway. It’s like getting off your bike, running up many stairs, then getting back on your bike and running down. It’s wild.
If you are in the area, definitely check out Centennial Park with your bike.
5. Big Construction on MLK and Weddington
Last but certainly not least is significant construction happening on the MLK and Weddington intersections on Interstate 49.
Those are the two big entry points for Fayetteville, so if you are in the university or live on the west side of Fayetteville, you probably use one of those sections.
In the past few months, they’ve been preparing to develop big clovers to expand those vast intersections. Hence, if you’ve been upset with the heavy traffic, rest assured that it’ll pass pretty soon because they’re building it out.
Fayetteville expects significant growth, like all of NWA, for these reasons, so I-49 and other exits are expanding dramatically. Moreover, they’re building a third exit south of Fayetteville to handle some of that area’s traffic.
Therefore, if you are coming down to Fayetteville, know that there’s some construction happening until 2023 spring. They include massive intersections and big reverse clovers to ensure traffic flows smoothly.
And that pretty much wraps up the major updates in Fayetteville. Next up, check out my article covering the biggest development in Rogers and expand your knowledge about NWA.
