Input session set for interchange plan

Officials invite public to view new proposal for MLK, I-49 on Thursday

Single point urban interchange
Single point urban interchange

FAYETTEVILLE — State officials will be here Thursday with a whole new plan to improve the congested interchange at Interstate 49 and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

Arkansas Department of Transportation officials presented two options at a public involvement meeting in September, but those no longer will be considered, said Danny Straessle, a Transportation Department spokesman.

“We will be coming back with a completely new option,” Straessle said in email. “We have opted to go with a single point urban interchange.”

That kind of interchange, also called a single-point diamond interchange, is designed to move large volumes of traffic through limited amounts of space safely and efficiently.

A single traffic signal at the center of the interchange controls left turns from all directions. Drivers make opposing left-turns at the same time with the protection of the signal. The design allows more vehicles to make a turn and clear the interchange during a traffic signal cycle.

The proposal will be unveiled at Thursday’s input session.

Space and cost were issues with the two options presented in September.

One version featured a bridge on-ramp to northbound I-49 from the inside eastbound lanes of MLK. The other option showed a loop on-ramp from the outside eastbound lanes onto the interstate. Both were designed to eliminate the left hand turn now required to go north on the interstate.

Having a say

Proposed improvements for the Interstate 49 and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard interchange will be shown to the public for the first time Thursday. The input session is scheduled for 4 to 7 p.m. at the Calvary Baptist Church Fellowship Hall, 1410 N. Porter Road. The public is invited to visit any time during the scheduled hours to view displays of the plans, ask questions and offer comments.

Source: Arkansas Department of Transportation

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The bridge could have been built within the existing right of way but the long ramp leading to it would have had very large walls that would cut off a driver’s visibility.

The loop would have required a new on-ramp be built outside existing right of way. A gas station and a motel on the southeast corner of the interchange and the Bank of America building, a body shop and the Walmart optical building on the northeast corner would have had to be purchased.

The area is congested during the morning and evening commutes because of continued development in west Fayetteville, Farmington, Prairie Grove and Lincoln, making the interchange a choke point.

Brian Hubbard, police chief in Farmington, said morning rush traffic has become a serious problem west of the I-49 interchange because it can’t handle the volume.

“Going through town, it’s pretty well affected from MLK and 49 all the way back up here into town. If there’s any kind of fender-bender whatsoever or something’s holding traffic up, it backs it up all the way into Farmington,” Hubbard said. “It’s like trying to put 8 gallons of water in a 5-gallon jug, it’s just not going to fit.”

Hubbard said he hopes whatever changes are made will move more cars.

“If it moves at the same volume, it’s like that old saying about putting lipstick on a pig,” Hubbard said. “You can make it as pretty as you want, but it’s still the same thing and you’re not gaining anything.”

Traffic studies done in 2012 found I-49 at the interchange carried 54,700 cars a day and MLK carried 38,000. By 2040, I-49 is projected to have some 84,000 cars a day and MLK 62,000.

The I-49 corridor has 17 projects, including interchange improvements and widening, either completed, in progress or planned along 26 miles. The estimated cost is almost $370 million with the money coming from interstate rehabilitation bonds, sales tax, federal highway money and local matches.

Ron Wood can be reached by email at rwood@nwadg.com or on Twitter @NWARDW.

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