dedicated advocate
Story by Susan O'Connor, Photo by Dero Sanford

Advocacy comes naturally to Sally Broadway, founder and president of the Northeast Arkansas Bicycle Coalition. She has been working for positive causes since she was a teenager.

As a junior in high school, Sally lobbied the Carlisle School Board for the right to graduate a year early.

“Once I realized that I would be able to finish all the requirements for graduation by the end of my junior year, I started pursuing early graduation,” she said. “I was told by the superintendent, guidance counselor, principal and school board that it was not permitted. The handbook said you had to go four years, and they weren’t going to change it. And if I wanted to leave early, they said, then I’d just have to drop out. Not satisfied with that option, my mom and I wrote a letter to the Democrat Gazette. They did a story on it, which is how Rep. Dennis Young of Texarkana heard about it and decided to sponsor a bill that would allow anyone who had fulfilled the required credits to graduate, regardless of grade level. Rep. Young let me be really involved in the process, letting me go to the capitol and shadow him on the bill’s really important days. Gov. Huckabee signed it shortly before graduation.”

Now, Sally is leading the way to make Jonesboro a safer, more bicycle friendly city.

Always a lover of cycling, a decision to buy a new bike while she was a student at Hendrix College in Conway led to her introduction to her husband, Jason.
“I bought a bike from him, and he said, ‘You’re going to need shoes and bike shorts to go along with that.’ I said, ‘No, I’m just going to ride around campus.’”
But after a few group rides, Sally felt the need for the right accoutrements and headed back to the bike shop. As she pulled into the parking lot, she saw Jason leaving. When he saw her, he made a u-turn in order to wait on her. And the rest is history.

Jason, a Paragould native, is the manager of the bike shop at Gearhead Outfitters, where he is a master fit specialist, as well as bicycle mechanic. They have a daughter, Taylor, 5.

After marriage, the couple made their home in Little Rock, where they became active in the Bicycle Advocates of Central Arkansas. At the time, the group was working toward establishing the city’s greenway, or corridor of protected space for bikers, walkers and other forms of recreation. Named The River Trail, the project has been a great success.

“If you look at Little Rock/North Little Rock pre and post bike paths, it is amazing,” she said. “On a Sunday afternoon, you can barely walk through The River Trail. Bikers, people working out, families out for walks — it is really great.”
When the Broadways moved to Jonesboro, they immediately saw the potential for a similar greenway project here, and the political situations were similar, as well, Sally noted, with a new, very supportive and receptive administration.

“Jonesboro had all the potential in the world if you were not intimidated by traffic,” she said with a smile. “The potential for this to be a really bike-friendly place is great. The greenway will do a really good job of providing a safe way around town. What is amazing is how these types of projects raise property values.”

So, in January she started a Facebook page for her newly formed group, the NEA Bicycle Coalition. More than 100 members quickly joined the effort. The group “hit the ground running,” Sally said.

The coalition has been working alongside the City of Jonesboro and Jonesboro Parks and Recreation to develop a designated bike path in Jonesboro. In June, the city council voted to establish an official bicycle/exercise route plan, which allows the route to be part of the city’s master street plan. Sally said this is an important step because it shows that city government recognizes the desire of its citizens to have bicycle-related facilities. Also, the designation of an official route requires the state highway department to take the path into consideration when improvements are made to state roadways.

The NEA Bicycle Coalition is also sponsoring the Share the Road program, which involves the placement of donated signs along the roadway to raise awareness about cyclists, thus promoting safety. The first 15 signs are up, and work on the cycling route is under way. Phase one starts in the Turtle Creek area and goes around Arkansas State University and downtown. The path will be completed as grant funds become available, Sally said.

“We’re here to get people excited about the project and to make biking safer,” she said.

The coalition is open to all bikers, from those who compete to cyclists who simply enjoy riding with their children. The group meets on the third Tuesday of the month at The Spot in downtown Jonesboro. Anyone interested is invited. To learn more about the group, visit its website at www.neabicyclecoalition.org.