Road-building frenzy aimed at catching up to NW Arkansas' growth

Northwest Arkansas is in the middle of a road-building boom to ease congestion on the region's crowded highway system.

"I tell everybody when you see orange barrels, you know it's going to get better. They're not there because it's going to get worse," said Dick Trammel of Rogers, the Arkansas Highway Commission chairman. "Making highways safe and improving infrastructure helps everybody -- that's individuals, families, industry, commerce and tourism. Good highways are good for everybody."

Sitting in traffic costs Northwest Arkansas residents more than $103 million a year in wasted time and gas, according to a 2012 study commissioned by the Northwest Arkansas Council, a group of local business leaders. The study concluded that finishing the Bella Vista bypass, building a U.S. 412 bypass around Springdale and widening Interstate 49 would reduce congestion.

I-49 has 17 projects such as interchange improvements and widening either recently completed, in progress or planned along the 26 miles between Fayetteville and Bentonville.

The estimated cost is almost $370 million, with the money coming from interstate rehabilitation bonds, a 0.5 percent sales tax, federal highway money and local matches. All the work is expected to be completed or well underway by 2020.

"If you look at the I-49 corridor, you'll see that it's quite the jigsaw puzzle of funding mechanisms to get this corridor widened to three lanes all the way from Fayetteville up to Bentonville where the Bella Vista bypass is going to be, which is the ultimate goal," said Danny Straessle, a spokesman for the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department.

Arkansas voters approved in 2011 a bond program for interstate repairs, the Grant Anticipation Revenue Vehicles, or GARVEE Bonds. Voters also approved a 10-year, 0.5 percent sales tax for new construction of highways in 2012.

Cities and counties receive a 15 percent share of the sales tax money to use for street projects.

The state expects to spend about $100 million from the bond issue on I-49 interchange improvements as a prelude to widening the highway. Either federal highway money or money from the sales tax is paying to widen sections between the interchanges.

"The traffic projections for that corridor are such that in order to increase the capacity and reduce congestion, we're going to three lanes in each direction. That's not just origin or destination traffic, it also includes projections for through traffic that comes from Missouri when the Bella Vista bypass is completed and Missouri is able to meet us at the state line," Straessle said.

"The whole area is expected to grow by leaps and bounds. A four-lane, divided interstate does not accommodate the amount of vehicles out there right now without causing delays," he said.

The Bella Vista bypass construction is underway. Two lanes are planned initially, but right of way is being acquired for four lanes. The first section, around Hiwasse, was built using federal highway money. Sales tax money will pay for most of the remainder of the $100 million project.

A 4-mile section between Benton County Road 34 and the Missouri line is on hold until Missouri finds the money to meet at the state line. Trammel said Missouri is looking at ways to raise the money, and he's hopeful it will be ready to finish its portion by the time the bypass is connected at I-49 in Bentonville.

The new interchange has not been put out for bid, but the easternmost, 6-mile section between I-49 and Arkansas 72 is expected to be completed in mid-2016.

"I think it's unique in Arkansas that we have a very active construction program amid a time when federal funding is very uncertain," Straessle said.

"The voters stepped up two years in a row and said, 'We want better highways.'"

Straessle said all the projects committed to funding from the sales tax should be done around 2023. Some of the work to replace segments of existing interstate may take until 2027, he said.

Other projects around the region that have been completed include the new Prairie Grove bypass, improvements to sections of Arkansas 265 in Fayetteville and Springdale, improvements to Arkansas 102 west of Bentonville, and the new Fayetteville overpass connecting North College Avenue with the Fulbright Expressway.

The $11.2 million Don Tyson Parkway interchange in Springdale was opened in July. Fayetteville finished widening Garland Avenue near the University of Arkansas campus, and work is ongoing to improve Razorback Road and Maple Street through campus to Garland Avenue.

"Projects that have been talked about for the last 20 years are being completed and opened," said Tim Conklin of the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission.

Improvements to U.S. 62 near Garfield, Arkansas 12 in Rogers and Arkansas 264 in north Springdale are underway. Bentonville is also working on Eighth Street improvements.

Contracts were recently awarded for the first 8-mile section of a new $100 million U.S. 412 bypass.

Trammel said the section is expected to take more than four years to build because of the difficult terrain along the route, which runs from I-49 near the Wagon Wheel Road interchange west to Arkansas 112.

An access road to the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport and extending Arkansas 265 as the eastern north/south corridor up to Rogers are well into the planning stages.

The Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission is in the process of updating its long-range transportation plan and a three-year Transportation Improvement Plan, which has allowed planners to get a feel for the scale of the change taking place in the region, Conklin said.

"I went through every project in Benton and Washington counties to account for it, everything we've talked about for the last 20 years that are now under construction and that are going to be under construction in the next four or five years," Conklin said.

"A lot of progress has been made. It's impressive; it has changed dramatically since I arrived in 1992," he said.

Conklin said there are some $600 million worth of projects recently completed, underway or planned.

"It's a significant amount of investment in this region. It's hard, I think, for people to grasp the investment that's coming in just for roadway transportation," Conklin said. "Then, if you try to capture what Fayetteville, Rogers, Bentonville, Bella Vista and Springdale are planning with regard to that investment, it's a really good story."

Conklin said the projects underway and planned are sorely needed to keep pace with population growth.

"It's good that as we're adding 100,000 people a decade, we're seeing some major transportation improvements to deal with the growing traffic and congestion in the region," he said.

Metro on 03/30/2015

Upcoming Events