BENTONVILLE -- A left turn lane will be added to the intersection of Elm Tree Road and Southwest Second Street.
The westbound turn lane will be the third lane on the south side of the intersection. There are now three through lanes and left turn lanes on three of the four legs of the intersection.
Council Action
Bentonville’s City Council met Tuesday and approved:
• Lot split at 5578 S.W. Adams Road.
• Property line adjustment at lot 36 of Oakbrooke Subdivision.
• Amendment to the Street Lights Standards ordinance.
• Hiring Morrison-Shipley Engineer for $13,750 for services in the municipal airport’s obstruction removal project.
• Spending $2,842 to repair a 2009 Chevrolet Impala damaged during a weather-related accident.
• Spending $2,039 to repair a 2010 Ford Crown Victoria damaged when hit by a reckless driver.
• Spending $98,033 for truck for the Electric Departmen.
Source: Staff Report
The City Council approved 7-0 to hire Sand Creek Engineering to design, bid administration and construction observation of the project for $90,000. That's 12 percent of the construction costs plus reimbursable items, according to meeting documents. The construction cost estimate is $750,000.
Tim Robinson, Ward 2 alderman, was absent.
Design for the project should take about three months, according to Mike Churchwell, transportation director. The project will then go to bid and take about 120 to 150 days to build.
The city will need to get the designs approved by the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department since Southwest Second Street is Arkansas 72, Mayor Bob McCaslin, said.
Elm Tree Elementary School is at the northwest corner of the intersection.
Often, there are only a couple motorists in a line who want to turn west, which prevents others behind them from being able to go across Southwest Second Street since there isn't a left turn lane there, McCaslin said before the meeting.
"It's a beautiful project," Octavio Sanchez, Ward 4 alderman, said during the meeting. "It's going to save a lot of time for a lot of people."
Bill Burckart, Ward 3 alderman, asked about how the intersection improvement project would affect the overlay project for Elm Tree Road that's scheduled for this year.
That overlay project was listed with the four others planned for this year and presented to the council as an informational item Tuesday. Elm Tree Road would be overlaid from Southwest Picasso Boulevard to Northwest Third Street. Its cost is estimated at $192,000, according to meeting documents.
Tony Davis, street manager, said the city would work with Sand Creek Engineering so work wasn't duplicated.
The Transportation Department is also working with a traffic consultant to see if a light signal could be placed at North Walton Boulevard and Northwest Third Street, McCaslin said Tuesday afternoon.
"That's some of the same people traveling the same routes," he said.
Southwest Elm Tree Road turns into Northwest Third Street when the road makes a hard right turn just north of Elm Tree Elementary School. Northwest Third Street then intersects with North Walton Boulevard about a mile and a half east.
It's a challenge for those going east and want to turn to go north on North Walton Boulevard, McCaslin said. There's another issue of motorists going north on North Walton Boulevard and wanting to go west on Northwest Third Street.
"It's a real challenge. It's a safety issue," he said.
The intersection improvement project at Elm Tree Road and Southwest Second Street will be paid for by the Highway Department's half cent sales tax that was passed in 2013, according to meeting documents. The city collects about $700,000 annually from that.
The project was also identified in the 2014 City Wide Traffic Study.
NW News on 04/29/2015