Contact Information:
Meg Matthews
Public Relations Manager
mmatthews@littlerock.gov
(501) 804-4822

Press Release

(Little Rock – August 26, 2011)

Revitalizing Little Rock’s Main Street corridor is one step closer to reality. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has posted their vision for the future of Main Street on their web site - http://epa.gov/smartgrowth/greencapitals.htm#arkansas.

Through their “Greening America’s Capitals” program, the EPA funded the design team of Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects (NBWLA) to produce designs intended to complement a large planning process for the Main Street corridor. This program helps communities consider ways to incorporate principals of smart growth that protect the environment.



This spring, Mayor Mark Stodola, representatives from NBWLA and other participants in the overall Main Street redevelopment efforts, toured the City on the Public Works compressed natural gas trolley to view the area. They then held meetings and discussed strategies for creating a reinvention of Main Street.

The Greening America’s Capitals design team then wrote their report and posted it on-line this week. It’s meant to assist Little Rock with streetscape improvement ideas that will help catalyze the redevelopment potential of the Main Street corridor. Focusing on key activity centers along the corridor, the redesign report highlights the impact that pocket parks and reuse of vacant parking lots could have on encouraging future redevelopment and increased pedestrian activity to support ground-floor retail and a future trolley line. This work will build on efforts the City has already begun through the Mayor’s Institute on City Design to engage the public and identify key assets and challenges that should be addressed in the Main Street area.