More I-540 work set for NW Arkansas

Highway commissioner says about $35 million in contracts let recently

Motorists can expect more orange barrels along Interstate 540 as the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department implements projects paid for with sales taxes dedicated to road construction or bonds issued for interstate rehabilitation.

The department recently announced two projects that will add a third lane to I-540 in Benton and Washington counties. The plan is to make the highway at least three lanes in each direction from south Fayetteville to north Bentonville.

Planners said the highway was conceived as a rural interstate. But Northwest Arkansas cities moved closer to the highway, creating commercial development, and the region grew in population, leading to more traffic and congestion than expected.

“There are a lot of good things going on,” Highway Commissioner Dick Trammel of Rogers said. “We’ve let a lot of contracts. I think in the last few weeks, we’ve let about $35 million in contracts. It’s all coming along.”

In Washington County, the state Highway Commission approved improvements to the I-540 interchange at Johnson Mill Boulevard in Johnson, said Danny Straessle, a spokesman for the Highway Department. Plans call for widening the boulevard, installing signals and ramps and adding lanes to the ramps. APAC-Central of Fayetteville was awarded the $1.2 million contract.

Construction is expected to begin in a couple of weeks and should be complete by summer 2014.

The project is part of the 2011 Interstate Rehabilitation Program, a $575 million bond issue approved by voters that’s expected to pay for improvements to 455 miles of highway in Arkansas through 2022. The bonds are being paid with federal highway money the state receives and a 4-cent-per-gallon tax on diesel fuel.

Widening work on I-540 from Wedington Drive to Porter Road in Fayetteville is getting underway, and improvements to the turn lanes at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Wedington Drive interchanges are expected next year, as are improvements to the Garland Avenue interchange. Those projects will be paid for using more than $50 million in highway sales tax money.

A section of I-540 between the Wagon Wheel Road interchange in Springdale and Monroe Avenue in Lowell was bid in November. The project will widen 2.5 miles of the highway to six lanes. APAC-Central of Fayetteville was awarded the $14.5 million contract, Straessle said. Construction should begin in the next few weeks, and the project is expected to be complete by late 2014.

East of Fayetteville, plans call for replacing a bridge over the West Fork of the White River on Huntsville Road, also known as Arkansas 16. In addition to replacing the aging bridge, 0.4 mile of the road will be widened from two lanes to four lanes on both sides of the bridge, and bicycle lanes will be added. Manhattan Road & Bridge was awarded the $5.2 million contract.

Construction is expected to begin in a couple of weeks and should be complete by late 2015.

In western Benton County, the Highway Commission approved a project to widen 0.3 mile of Kenwood Streetin Siloam Springs, between Cherry and Olive streets. The roadway will be widened from two, 9-foot lanes to two, 14-foot lanes with guttering. Construction is expected to begin in the next couple of weeks and should be complete by late 2014.

City officials in Rogers, Springdale and Fayetteville recently started looking at new road and bridge projects.

Rogers officials are considering an environmental assessment for an I-540 overpass that would connect Fir Street on the east side of the interstate with Horsebarn Road on the west side. Officials hope the project can be built using mostly federal highway money.

The Fir Street overpass would improve connectivity between the east and west sides of Rogers between New Hope Road and Walnut Street, officials said.

The federal Surface Transportation Program became available to the region in 2011 when the population of Northwest Arkansas surpassed 200,000, said Jeff Hawkins, executive director of the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission. The program funnels money for transportation projects through the Highway Department and the Regional Planning Commission, Hawkins said.

Springdale officials are applying for a grant from the Surface Transportation Program to increase the width of a replacement bridge over I-540 at Elm Springs Road by one lane.

Highway Department officials agreed in February to join with Springdale to build a replacement bridge at the Elm Springs Road interchange. The proposed bridge would be five lanes with sidewalks, said Alan Pugh, city director of engineering. It would replace an existing four-lane bridge that doesn’t have sidewalks. Current projections forecast five lanes would be enough for 20 years.

Construction of an overpass near the Northwest Arkansas Mall in north Fayetteville is ahead of schedule, city officials said. That project is expected to be complete early next year.

The curved overpass will take traffic off College Avenue and away from the Joyce Boulevard intersection to the Fulbright Expressway and I-540, or drivers can enter the commercial area at Shiloh and Mall avenues near the Olive Garden restaurant.

Beams for the bridge are in place. A steel pan will go on top of the beams, followed by reinforcing steel and a concrete deck.

Getting from College Avenue to I-540 at the Joyce Boulevard intersection has been a problem for drivers near Northwest Arkansas Mall for decades. The move requires a U-turn from College Avenue back to the expressway. Traffic is often backed up in the area. The turn became increasingly difficult as the area around the mall developed.

Meanwhile, the city is looking to rehab two historic bridges near downtown and the University of Arkansas.

The bridges, which run over the Arkansas & Missouri Railroad tracks between Gregg and West avenues, were built in the 1930s by the Works Progress Administration. They are the only two pieces of city-owned property listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

City officials are working with the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program, state Highway Department and Federal Highway Administration to restore the bridges as close as possible to their original state.

The project is being paid for with $1 million in federal money and $400,000 from the city’s Transportation Improvement Bond Program approved in 2006.

The improvements, which have been talked about for years, are scheduled for completion in mid-2015, according to a timeline from the city Engineering Division.

Trammel said he also expects another section of the Bella Vista bypass project to be bid early next year. The section will be between Hiwasse and U.S. 71 in Bentonville.

Three major projects are nearing completion: the widening of Crossover Road in Fayetteville, widening Centerton Boulevard/Southwest 14th Street between Bentonville and Centerton and widening Garland Avenue near the UA campus in Fayetteville.

Arkansas, Pages 15 on 12/29/2013

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