Connected Streets = Connected Communities
How Bentonville, Arkansas Is Reimagining What’s Possible with Local Government + Partnerships
In communities across the country, local governments face a shared challenge: residents want safer, more connected, and more convenient ways to get around, but the infrastructure to support those options often takes too long to materialize. From conception to completion, building something as seemingly simple as a protected bike lane can take a decade or more. That delay comes at a cost: lost time, missed opportunities, and growing distrust in public institutions’ ability to deliver.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. In Bentonville, Arkansas, a new way of working has accelerated mobility investments and helped rebuild the connection between residents and their local government. Through bold leadership, smart partnerships, and community-centered planning, the city is showing that connected and convenient streets don’t have to be a road less traveled.
By partnering with the Bentonville Moves Coalition and utilizing City Thread’s Accelerated Mobility Playbook (AMP), the City of Bentonville set an ambitious goal: build 30 miles of new bicycle infrastructure by 2025. Instead of waiting a decade, they got to work and in three years accelerated project delivery by a factor of nine. The result? 9.9 miles of bike projects completed ten years ahead of schedule with Bentonville achieving their goal of building 30 miles of the Connecting Bentonville plan in three years.
This isn’t just a story of bike lanes. It’s a story of how local governments, community members, and cross-sector partners can come together to deliver visible change, and how speed, when paired with smart strategy, builds momentum.
A Broad, Diverse Coalition
Bentonville’s success began with its people. In 2025, the Bentonville Moves Coalition grew by 50%, surpassing 875 members and engaged 15,000 participants in project activations, mini-grants, community gatherings, and local business/event sponsorships. This diverse alliance, which includes business owners, school leaders, community organizations, faith groups, and everyday residents, helped lay the groundwork for change by building trust, sharing local knowledge, and promoting a shared vision for a safer, more connected city.
The coalition leveraged public opinion research and strategic messaging to demonstrate that bold action had broad support. Surveys completed in 2023, 2024 and 2025 found that 80% of voters supported the Connecting Bentonville plan, with 90% of participants agreeing that a connected mobility network would improve safety for all road users, drivers, bicyclists, and pedestrians alike. The 2025 survey showed that 24% of drivers would like to bike, walk, and take transit more than they currently do.
This public support didn’t emerge by accident. It was activated through messaging that resonated across demographics and political ideologies, emphasizing shared values: safety, convenience, and freedom of movement. Residents responded positively to messages like, “Every neighborhood needs access to streets and sidewalks built to be safe,” and, “Mobility projects help us move forward together.”
Speed Is Possible, and Necessary
Too often, the pace of infrastructure delivery is the Achilles’ heel of local government. Long timelines erode enthusiasm and make it harder to sustain momentum. But with the AMP approach, Bentonville proved that you don’t have to sacrifice speed for quality.
The AMP provided a blueprint for the city to move faster and more effectively by:
Assessing capacity and readiness using global best practices
Designing a strategy to build and communicate a connected mobility network
Hosting immersive workshops that brought together city staff, elected officials, and community leaders to identify barriers
Providing ongoing support through meetups, resources, and peer networks
Equipped with these tools, Bentonville didn’t just plan better streets, the local government went ahead and built them. And in doing so, it reinforced a powerful idea: when residents can see progress in real time, their faith in local government grows.
Investing in Opportunity, Not Just Asphalt
As communities grow and change, so do residents' needs. What worked a decade ago may not serve families today. Bentonville recognized that building and maintaining convenience for residents means adapting infrastructure to reflect how people actually want to move through their city. Building what communities need, when they need it, and being responsive to residents rather than asking them to wait generations for change.
Mobility is about more than transportation. It’s about connecting people to jobs, schools, healthcare, parks, and each other. By accelerating the buildout of greenways, sidewalks, and protected bike lanes, Bentonville is giving residents more ways to move safely, with more convenience and affordability.
Crucially, the city's messaging avoided framing these projects as niche improvements for a subset of cyclists. Instead, the focus was on mobility for everyone, whether you drive, bike, or walk. This inclusive framing helped broaden the base of support and defuse common tensions between different road users.
Replicable, Relatable, and Ready
Bentonville isn’t alone. Cities like Providence, RI and others using the AMP have shown similar results, speeding up implementation, building trust, and delivering real benefits to residents.
Zoe Kircos, Sara Studdard and Kyle Wagenschutz are partners at City Thread
