Metroplan's board agreed in principle Wednesday to pay half of the cost of study of the Arkansas 89 corridor. The rest would be paid by the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department.
The board, composed mostly of mayors and county judges in the region, passed a motion by voice vote with no dissenters. An estimate of the cost of the study wasn't available, but the Highway Department has previously said it would be about $300,000.
Metroplan is the region's long-range transportation planning agency. The vote gives its executive director, Jim McKenzie, the authority to negotiate and execute an agreement with the Highway Department.
Arkansas 89 runs east-west roughly from Cabot to Conway. It passes through parts of Lonoke, Pulaski and Faulkner counties. The highway, if improved, could be a substitute for the Northbelt Freeway.
That proposed highway was to run from south of Jacksonville on the east through north Pulaski County to Interstate 430 on the west. In the planning for decades, it was abandoned because of its estimated cost -- more than $600 million -- and development in the area.
Improving Arkansas 89, Jacksonville Mayor Gary Fletcher said, "will be a whole lot cheaper than the Northbelt Freeway."
The road is already part of the region's arterial highway network, McKenzie said. "The idea is to keep from forcing people onto the interstate highways."
A drive from Jacksonville to Conway now could mean a loop on U.S. 67 and Interstate 40.
The board also agreed to a change in how it will award $240,000 from the federal Transportation Alternatives Program. The money had been earmarked for the rehabilitation and relocation of the Springfield-Des Arc Bridge, which spans Cadron Creek between Faulkner and Conway counties.
The iron truss bridge, built in 1874, will be moved to Beaverfork Lake Park, about 12 miles away, and will span part of the lake.
Casey Covington, Metroplan's study director, said the federal money will instead be used for a pedestrian and bicycle overpass of Dave Ward Drive in Conway near the University of Central Arkansas. The city of Conway will pay the entire cost of the bridge relocation, according to a letter from Mayor Tab Townsell and Faulkner County Judge Jim Baker.
Baker said he hoped the bridge would be lifted off the creek within the next two weeks. Work on building a pad for a crane and putting down rock for a road will begin immediately, he said.
The board reviewed a list of projects scheduled to be let in 2017. Major projects include widening of Interstate 30 in Benton from U.S. 70 to Sevier Street, 5.25 miles, $102.1 million; widening of U.S. 67 from Vandenburg Drive in Jacksonville to Arkansas 5 in Lonoke County, 4.53 miles, $77.9 million; improvements to the Bryant Parkway interchange on I-30 in Saline County, $4 million; a new interchange on U.S. 67 north of Cabot, $20.5 million; and overlay of 2.14 miles of I-30 around 65th Street in Little Rock, $26.3 million.
Metro on 09/29/2016