New path has been constructed south of Eastland Shopping Center.
The Eastland Pathfinder Extension Project, which includes the construction of new trail from U.S. Highway 75 east to Brookline Drive, is the “last link” to connect Pathfinder to existing trail in area parks, City of Bartlesville Director of Engineering Micah Siemers said this week.
“The Eastland Pathfinder connection is the last link needed to connect the trail to existing path at Sooner Park, Jo Allyn Lowe Park and Lee Lake,” Siemers said. “Once construction of the path from Highway 75 to Brookline Drive is complete, trail users will be able to use Pathfinder to access all three of these parks.”
The project, which got underway in June, includes construction of a new Pathfinder trail east from U.S. Highway 75 at Eastland Shopping Center to Brookline Drive as well as installing a new trail head west of U.S. Highway 75 across from the shopping center. The revisions were necessary due to increased traffic in the Eastland Center parking lot with the construction of Chick-Fil-A and re-locations of Hobby Lobby and Big Lots in recent years.
The project, which will expand the trail system to just under 17 miles, is about 60 percent complete, Siemers said.
“The contractor has completed the parking lot and trail between Highway 75 and Brookline Drive. They still need to stripe the parking lot and paint bollards, but other than that the west half of the project is complete,” he said.
Siemers said contract crews started work Monday (Sept. 28) on the portion of the trail that will run along the north side of Brookline Drive.
“They will continue to work from west to east until they reach the current termination of the trail at Frank Phillips Boulevard in the (former) Will Rogers school parking lot just east of Turkey Creek. This portion of the project will include construction of five-foot wide concrete sidewalk rather than the asphalt trail that was built on the west half of the project,” he said. “We are targeting completion of the project by the end of November.”
The new Pathfinder trail head just west of U.S. Highway 75 across from Eastland Shopping Center is nearly complete.
Siemers said work will continue to connect the path throughout Bartlesville, but that the Eastland project is a big step in the right direction.
“This has been an ongoing project and one that City staff, along with the many people who use the path, will be happy to see come to fruition,” he said. “Of course, we will still have more work to do as the plan has always been to make the trail system accessible to all Bartlesville neighborhoods.”
Siemers said future Pathfinder projects will be identified and completed based on available funding.