SPRINGDALE -- A section of downtown is closed for street repair and will be open in time for the rodeo parade.
Emma Avenue from Hewitt Street to Berry Street closed last week and will remain closed for the next two months.
Web watch
For continuous updates about Emma Avenue streetscape improvements, visit www.springdalear.go….
The closing is for work part of the downtown plan and is a continuation of water and sewer line work done from Hewitt to Berry, which ended in February. Springdale Water Utilities managed the water and sewer work and was asked by the city to manage the work, said Melissa Reeves, public relations director for the city.
"We figured if they were going to tear up the road, they might as well put it back together as far as our streetscape improvements that we were already planning," Reeves said. "It made sense to have the utility oversee it for continuity sake."
Heath Ward, executive director of the utility, said work will be done by Crossland Construction Co. of Rogers and is to be completed Aug. 15. However, work will be completed by early July and finished enough to open for the Rodeo of the Ozarks' kickoff parade June 21.
"Mostly by that time it's going to be detail work. For the most part, it will be passable for traffic," Ward said.
Detail work will include cleanup, striping and painting, Ward said.
The work from Hewitt to Berry, which is about two blocks, will cost $1.16 million, and the city will reimburse the utility for the improvement, Reeves said.
Ward said it made sense for the utility to oversee the work.
"It's worked out pretty well," he said. "The city approves all the designs and drawings. We're just the administrators.
"We know this has not been smooth at all times, but we have to take some short-term inconvenience for what I think is a long-term benefit for our city and businesses. I cannot over-emphasize how much we appreciate the downtown business people working with us and being patient."
NW News on 04/25/2017