HJAR Sep/Oct 2019

36 SEP / OCT 2019 I  HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF ARKANSAS COLUMN POLICY Walking, BikingTrails PromoteHealthy Lifestyles As president and CEO of the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement, it has been my pleasure to support the Healthy Active Arkansas initiative, the governor-endorsed 10-year plan to increase the percentage of Arkansans who are at a healthy weight. One of the initiative’s nine priority areas is Physi- cal and Built Environment, and in this col- umn I want to highlight one way Arkansas is making a difference in that area: by de- veloping excellent walking and biking trails around the state. In Central Arkansas, we have the beautiful Arkansas River Trail System. The original 16-mileArkansas River Trail winds through Little Rock and North Little Rock, beginning at the Clinton Presidential Park Bridge and looping back via the Big Dam Bridge. The latter is the longest bridge in NorthAmerica built for pedestrian and bicycle traffic. With the completion of Two Rivers Park Bridge in 2011, theArkansas River Trail was extended to Pinnacle Mountain State Park in western Pulaski County. The trail from the Clinton Presidential Park Bridge to Pin- nacle Mountain and back is 34 miles. Also in 2011, the American Automobile Associa- tion’s Southern Traveler magazine named the Arkansas River Trail the Best Bike Trail in the South. The trail is now part of the largerArkansas River Trail System “Grand Loop,”which also extends through Faulkner and Perry coun- ties. The 88-mile trail system connects 38 parks and 12 museums, according to arkan- sasrivertrail.org. Notable landmarks on the Grand Loop include the Clinton Presidential Photo courtesy of Arkansas Center of Health Improvement/Tim Holder