Cantrell Road turning into a big headache

Construction creates bumpy road for area businesses

Cars pass construction along Cantrell Road near Mississippi Street and Tanglewood Shopping Center. Work to add a center turn lane is expected to be completed by spring 2016.
Cars pass construction along Cantrell Road near Mississippi Street and Tanglewood Shopping Center. Work to add a center turn lane is expected to be completed by spring 2016.

The widening of Cantrell Road from four to five lanes along a 0.65-mile stretch from Mississippi Street east to Perryville Road has proved bittersweet -- or just plain bitter -- for businesses along the way.

photo

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Eric Kyzer with Redstone Construction refuels construction equipment on Cantrell Road. Redstone was awarded a $4.6 million contract for the work on Cantrell.

photo

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

About 32,500 vehicles a day use Cantrell Road. The Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department is adding a center turn lane to the road.

The new center turn lane on Cantrell, also known as Arkansas 10, will make it easier for customers to cross oncoming traffic, though several businesses were forced to move or will lose a good deal of parking.

All rights of way have been acquired and several businesses relocated, said Danny Straessle a spokesman for the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department. Some 32,500 vehicles passed the designated area daily in 2014.

"It really needed these improvements," Straessle said.

"Growing up [here], you kind of learn to change lanes so you don't get caught behind a lot of backed-up traffic," he added.

Road work started along the section in February. Workers are on site mostly from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. Monday through early Sunday. Any day work is typically done 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

A couple of mainstays on that stretch -- the quintessential neighborhood store Kraftco Hardware and a Mexican food favorite, Casa Manana -- were able to keep their spots. However, the road widening will bring drivers a little closer than desired.

"We may be a drive-thru hardware store before we know it," said manager John Hill. "I know I don't want to be up there when it happens."

"We'll have something unique -- a drive-thru hardware store," added Dick Bona, who with his college-age son, Will, own Kraftco. The hardware and building supply store packed floor to ceiling with everything from power generators and drill bits to gardening gloves and canning supplies has been in business since 1950.

Moving was not necessary for the highway department's purposes, nor was it an option for Kraftco.

"The nostalgia ... and the location's great. You couldn't ask for a better location," Hill said. At the most, the business may lose two parking spaces.

In the highway's current configuration, drivers have run into the Kraftco building once or twice with minimal damage, Hill said. However, rear-end accidents have been many. Over the years, it's become "an initiation" for Kraftco employees to get hit from behind on Cantrell.

"They come up on you, going at 'Cantrell speeds,' and don't get stopped in time while you're waiting to turn in [to work]," he added.

"Everybody thinks they're Mario Andretti," Bona added.

That's where the turn lane will come in handy. The widening consists of two 12-foot lanes in each direction plus an 11-foot turn lane, curbs and sidewalks. Currently, there are two 11-foot lanes in both directions.

"This will allow turning traffic to queue up better," Straessle said.

Perhaps the most-affected business was Ken Rash's of Arkansas, which sells outdoor furnishings, patio accessories and grills. The project nuzzled so close to the showroom that Rash was forced to move to 11220 N. Rodney Parham Road a little more than a year ago.

"I had no choice but to move," said second-generation owner Lawrie Rash. She sold the highway department easements all around the building, but she kept the structure and will try to sell it when construction is complete. When it's all said and done, Cantrell will be about 5 feet from the former Ken Rash location.

"It destroyed the actual use of the building," she said of the project. The work required cut off both driveways to the property and parking lot. Her 20,000-square-foot building will be worth about $40,000 because they've ruined the access to it, she said.

Business is just as good at the Rodney Parham location, but moving there "was like starting all over again after 23 years of business," she added.

At the far west end of the project, the highway department took a strip mall known as the Rexall building, former home of Shipley Donuts, Arkansas Cash for Gold, Al's Tobacco, Paxton's Pizza and Comet Cleaners, all of which were moved within the city with the help of the highway department's relocation team. The doughnut shop and cleaners moved a few blocks west of their former locations.

Edwards Food Giant was said to have lost more than a dozen parking spots from its already small lot. The owner of Tanglewood Shopping Center, where the grocery is located, could not be reached for comment.

The relocation team also assisted a liquor store, now called Cantrell Wine & Spirits, in its move across Cantrell, within the confines of the project. Firestone Complete Auto Care also moved close by, buying and razing a former Arby's restaurant and building a new facility there.

"It's a traumatic time for people ... and it's not any easier for business owners to have to pull up stakes and go somewhere, as well," Straessle said.

Redstone Construction of Little Rock was awarded the $4.6 million contract for the work on Cantrell, which should be done by spring 2016, Straessle said.

A smaller project that added a continuous left-hand turn lane west from Mississippi to Foxcroft Road was completed in May 2008.

SundayMonday Business on 04/12/2015

Upcoming Events