FAYETTEVILLE -- Another major street project is in the works in north Fayetteville.
The City Council is set to accept $320,000 in federal money next week to help design a quarter-mile extension to Sain Street on the east side of North College Avenue.
At A Glance
Council Agenda
Fayetteville’s City Council is scheduled to meet at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in Room 219 of the City Administration Building, 113 W. Mountain St. The agenda includes:
• A $5,000 agreement with Southwestern Electric Power Co. for new, energy-efficient lighting fixtures along Dickson Street;
• $160,000 in vehicle purchases for the Animal Services Division, Building Safety Division, Parking Management Division, Police Department, Utilities Department and Water and Sewer Operations Division; and
• Five rezoning requests: on 0.3 acres at 232 W. Ash St.; 21.6 acres east of Rupple Road and north of the Fayetteville Boys & Girls Club; 93 acres west of Arkansas 112 and north of Sam’s Club; 0.3 acres at 956 Ray Ave.; and 10.7 acres north of Wedington Drive and west of Interstate 49.
Source: Staff Report
Joel Walsh can be reached by email at jwalsh@nwadg.com or on Twitter @NWAJoel.
The street dead ends behind Panera Bread, 3638 N. Front Street. It will eventually extend northeast, over the Mud Creek Trail, to Vantage Drive, near several bank branches on the south side of Joyce Boulevard.
Chris Brown, city engineer, said Tuesday the project will also connect to the recently completed "flyover" bridge, giving drivers another way to bypass the busy Joyce Boulevard and College Avenue intersection near the Northwest Arkansas Mall.
A ramp would extend from Front Street, over northbound College Avenue, to the flyover, which gives drivers access to westbound lanes on the Fulbright Expressway as well as to the Mall Avenue and Shiloh Drive intersection, near Olive Garden and Logan's Roadhouse restaurants.
Brown cautioned project designs will likely take two years to complete. Construction will be finished in 2018 at the earliest, he said. The flyover connection may have to be broken into a later phase of the project, depending on money, he added.
"Don't get too anxious," he said Tuesday.
The project was one of nine recipients of about $7 million in Federal-aid Surface Transportation Program-Attributable money the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission distributed last year.
The money became available after the Census Bureau determined Northwest Arkansas' urbanized population reached more than 200,000 people.
Brown said he hoped the money would also pay for 80 percent of property acquisition and construction costs -- as it will with project design.
He estimated the entire project will cost between $8 million and $10 million.
The city's share will be paid for using "bridge assessments" billed to businesses, such as Procter & Gamble and Arvest Bank, that built in the area in recent years. Brown said up to $2 million is also available through the Transportation Improvement Bond Program voters approved in 2006.
Aldermen also will consider at next week's City Council meeting designating 14.2 acres of city land as new training grounds for the Fire Department.
"Currently, the Fire Department sends personnel to Rogers, Springdale and Lincoln for training that could be accomplished in Fayetteville," Chief David Dayringer said in a memo to the mayor and City Council.
The land is next to Superior Industries, 1901 E. Borick Drive, east of Armstrong Avenue. It's also adjacent to Combs Park.
Dayringer said firefighters will immediately be able to conduct swiftwater rescue exercises in the West Fork of the White River.
The property can also be used for wildland fire training, trench rescue, confined space entry, emergency vehicle driving, structural collapse, live burns, heavy equipment, construction site rescues and hazardous materials training, according to Dayringer's memo.
NW News on 01/28/2015