Community Perceptions of HWY 63B

Project Mission:

Pine Bluff was once the cultural and economic center of the Arkansas Delta before the departure of its manufacturing base in the 1980s. Recall that over a century ago, the city had the fourth highest rate of Black wealth in urban America behind Charleston, South Carolina; Richmond, Virginia; and New York City.  

In 2021, Pine Bluff was designated America’s “fasting shrinking city,” having experienced a 16% population decline in the previous two years.  

One obvious solution to reversing course in this historically vibrant Arkansas city is to strategically invest in repairing neighborhoods.  

Pine Bluff and its partners have received a planning grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation to study the transformation of State Highway 63B (Olive Street) into a “context-sensitive street”  that will serve the neighborhood. The project team wants to co-create a new plan for Olive Street with you and we want to know how the remaking of Olive Street may best serve neighborhood residents. 

Imagine Olive Street as a new tree-lined street with great public spaces, sidewalks, bike lanes, lighting, and mixed uses including new businesses and housing. Imagine a new neighborhood main street connecting surrounding neighborhoods and encouraging walkable and safe access to essential services. The project team will develop scenario designs in response to your feedback through community design workshops to be held in early 2025. We want to know what you think!

This Pine Bluff project is one of 132 planning or capital projects to be funded in the Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhood Grant Program by the USDOT  2024 program, and the only one from Arkansas.  

The project team co-led by the University of Arkansas Community Design Center and Go Forward Pine Bluff includes the City of Pine Bluff, the Southeast Arkansas Regional Planning Commission, the Arkansas Department of Transportation, the Pine Bluff Urban Renewal Agency, and NOB A+D (Architecture + Design), the only Black female minority-owned architecture firm in Arkansas.  

This survey is an important component of the "Community-based Engagement Program" planning initiative.