Light Rail and the Walton Arts Center

The state of light rail in Northwest Arkansas?

I'm going to be a little radical for second and say this: light rail is definitely going to happen here. Now, if we accept that, how does that affect the future of the Walton Arts Center?

Most everybody in town wants the Walton Arts Center expansion to be built in Fayetteville, and we want to build it on Dickson in the empty Walton Arts Center parking lot. For the longest time, I thought the parking lot would become a rail stop / bus depot, and I wondered how we would fit the Walton Arts Center into the same space.

But I made a mistake in my thinking: even if we build the new WAC on the current parking lot, there will still be a light rail stop nearby. The future light rail stop will take the place of the old train depot, across Dickson St from the future expansion of the Center.

That's good news, and it makes for another reason for the WAC to stay in Fayetteville. The leaders at the WAC have to understand that there is no other community in Northwest Arkansas so dedicated to the vision of mass transit. The WAC leaders know that for the Center to be successful, it needs to be in the middle of everything. They don't get that with any of the other proposed locations.

Close your eyes for second and dream about the new WAC in the current parking lot with buses and light rail stop right across Dickson Street. Isn't that a beautiful vision?