The Arkansas River Trail grew from a 1913 City of Little Rock plan for parks along the Arkansas River and was built piece by piece over many years by elected officials and private partners, with support from grants, appropriations, and donations. In 2006, the Big Dam Bridge was completed across the Murray Lock and Dam as the world’s longest pedestrian and bicycle bridge built exclusively for recreational use, linking Little Rock and North Little Rock sections of the trail and creating a 15-mile loop between the downtowns and the dam. The trail is complete along the north shore from this location to downtown, extends through Little Rock’s Rebsaman Park, and continued work sought to close the final gaps on the south side. Along the route are a Presidential Library, a nature center, six museums, restaurants, shops, and at least ten separate parks with trees, birds, and wildlife. The system also includes an 88.5 mile Grand Loop extending north to Conway in Faulkner County and back along the south side through Perry County, a Southeast Trail extending past the Clinton Airport through the Little Rock Port and David Terry Dam, and a planned Southwest Trail extending through Benton to Hot Springs, Arkansas. Its development included park and trail projects from the 1970s onward, including Riverfront Park, North Shore Riverwalk Park, the Medical Mile, the Big Dam Bridge, the Junction Bridge, the Clinton Presidential Park Bridge, the Two Rivers Park Bridge, the Vogel-Schwartz Sculpture Garden, and later agreements among multiple jurisdictions to support the trail and develop bicycle and pedestrian connections.