PHILLIPS CO., Ark. — Governor Asa Hutchinson announced plans to complete the 84-mile Delta Heritage Trail on Thursday.
Hutchinson said the Delta Heritage Trail could garner seven point seven million dollars in economic and tourism benefits per year.
It’s a five-year project that promises to give eastern Arkansas a much needed boost.
“And as those numbers increase, it will benefit the economies of the communities in which the Trail is located,” Hutchinson said.
As many as 600 jobs could be created as a result of construction. More trail staff and businesses are sure to spring up as a result of what the trail will offer.
New jobs are exciting in one of arkansas’ poorest areas.
“Whether those jobs are in restaurants, maybe a bed and breakfast or hotel or Airbnb . . . whatever,” said Chris Richey, State Representative of District 12.
Completing the trail will be made possible by a $20 million matching grant from the Walton Family Foundation.
“It’s an opportunity to think unconventionally about what can spur economic activity,” said Karen Minkel with the Walton Family Foundation.
Construction will connect 24 miles of trail on the south to 20 miles on the north, with a finished project winding through the Arkansas Delta.
“Without that connection the Trail will never work,” said Grady Spann, director of Arkansas State Parks. “You have to make that connection to make the Trail work, to make it a national attraction.”
