As the state of Arkansas slowly reopened after the covid-19 shutdown, so did the visitor centers located next to major highways. In Northwest Arkansas, the visitor center is on 71B, across from Lake Bella Vista.
The rock building, surrounded by shade trees and picnic tables, is one of the smallest visitor centers in the state, said manager William Armacost, but it's stuffed with information about the region and the state.
Although the building is open, after a shutdown that lasted about three months, there are still some restrictions. The large displays of brochures and maps are temporarily off-limits, although Armacost said the welcome center staff can get any information that a traveler needs.
It hasn't been very busy inside the building, he said, but there are often people at the picnic tables. Some of them may be local, he said.
Overall, travel seems to be down compared to previous years, he said.
Most people stop to use the restroom, he speculated, and they don't come into the welcome center part of the building or use the picnic tables.
The state is now looking for property for a new welcome center to be located next to the highway that is under construction. When the road is complete it will be the route that travelers headed south from Missouri will use.
There's no timeline yet, Armacost said, but he expects the welcome center will be ready to open when the highway is complete and that will probably be in the spring of 2022.
The new center will probably be significantly larger, he said. Since most of the state's centers have been renovated and expanded over the past few years. The local area wasn't included because state officials knew that it would be replaced when the new road opened.
Armacost doesn't know what will happen to the present building after the welcome center moves out, but he's heard that the city might be interested in using it as its own information center.