DEVIN TABOR
WEDINGTON PLAZA INCREMENTAL
SPRAWL REPAIR
SUMMER 2021
Although the Wedington area remains a growing hub within Fayetteville, AR, development in Wedington, west of I-49, looks devastatingly different than in Fayetteville, east of I-49. The center of Fayetteville has been able to sprawl in a way which depicts a more natural, urban experience. Across the Interstate I-49, Wedington can clearly be seen as a suburban sprawl development with the residential construction that began in the 1990s, which does not hold the same place-making opportunities as the rest of Fayetteville does. There is, what appears to be, a large disconnect between Wedington and other places west of the interstate and the other regions of Fayetteville on the east side of I-49.
Due to the number of commuters who live in the Wedington area, residents rely heavily on private auto-mobile transportation. This has unfortunately led to a primary focus on developing the streets and businesses for automobiles, and currently it would appear that little regard for pedestrians and cyclists has been taken into consideration. There are currently no safe means of pedestrian traffic to connect residents in Wedington across to the other side of Fayetteville. Along Wedington Drive, the main roadway for the area, pedestrians and cyclists experience an uneasy or on-edge feeling because of the high speed limits in part with a lack of distance and barriers between the road and sidewalks. Shopping centers and other businesses implement excessive parking lots to meet the number of residents driving personal vehicles to get places within a fairly short distance of one’s home.
As the region continues to sprawl with new single-family housing development in effect, the need to combat this sprawling nature and disrupt the auto-mobile reliance is apparent. In the past, the City of Fayetteville has worked with the community and designers to create a plan to redevelop the area, primarily along Wedington Drive. The latest plan was the Wedington Corridor Plan, created in 2012, but very few of the goals for this plan have been implemented today. The area continues to feel very hostile towards pedestrian traffic as more people who move into the area have little to no option for an alternative means of transportation.
