ROGERS -- Construction continues on East Walnut Street to improve an entrance to Lake Atalanta Park.
Workers are concentrating on a 1,000-foot area at the intersection of East Walnut Street and North Lake Atalanta Road, where they will add a left turn lane into the park, lighting for the street and a nearby trail, and replace a culvert with a larger one to increase drainage. The area will be large enough to allow a bike trail beneath the street, said Lance Jobe with the Planning Commission.
Construction started in February and is paid for with a municipal bond. It's planned for completion by the end of September, but workers have until the end of November to wrap up details on the job.
Projects on Price Road and South Pinnacle Hills Parkway, south of the roundabout, are on the cusp of completion.
Several other road construction projects are taking place across the city, including improvements on Bellview, Pleasant Grove and Perry roads in west Rogers and First Street downtown.
Nathan Becknell, a project engineer for Rogers, said the Perry and Bellview projects also will help with drainage.
"They are generally taking the existing two-lane roads and widening them to four lanes with pedestrian and drainage improvements," he said.
Widening South Belleview Road north to West Pleasant Grove Road is set to begin in 2017. Estimated to cost $7 million, it will be paid by a voter-approved bond program and be finished in summer 2018.
The Bellview Road project will continue along north of West Pleasant Grove, across Interstate 49 to West Ajax Avenue. Crossland Heavy Contractors is handling the $11.6 million project to be finished in December.
Workers recently began construction on West Perry Road, widening the strip between 21st and 24th streets to three lanes. Perry Road runs from Rogers High School to Pinnacle Hills Promenade. Decco Contractors was awarded $6.2 million for the job, which will be complete at the end of 2017, Becknell said.
Crossing gates will be added at train crossings on Dixieland Road and Eighth Street. A traffic light will be installed at the intersection of North Eighth and West Easy streets. Two projects on the Razorback Greenway are underway, one on South 52nd Street and another that will take the trail through Village on the Creeks, Becknell said.
West Laurel Road is in the design phase for a pair of projects to widen the road between South 26th Street and South Eighth Street.
A new road is planned to extend West Southgate Road to Arkansas 112. It stops at its intersection with South Rainbow Road near the Shadow Valley subdivision.
A project on a Monte Ne Road realignment will be to open bids starting July 7. Bids will be reviewed July 26 and could start a month or two later, Jobe said.
The Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department plans to improve a segment of Walnut Street from Eighth Street to Interstate 49 by adding a turning lane and sidewalks. Construction will begin in 2018. Walnut Street is also U.S. 71B and once the work is done, the road will be delisted as a state highway and turned over to Rogers.
NW News on 06/28/2016