FAYETTEVILLE — City leaders are proposing a transportation bond program to help make it easier to get around Northwest Arkansas.
Voters will be asked April 9 to continue the city’s existing 1 percent sales tax to pay for about $226 million worth of projects. There will be 10 questions on the ballot, each on a different topic. The one for transportation is by far the most expensive.
Its approval would mean more than $70 million for such things as corridors, sidewalks, bicycle lanes, new segments of road and maintenance.
Fayetteville residents approved a $65 million transportation bond issue in 2006, which was used to get nearly $25 million in state and federal grants.
City department heads anticipate securing about $16.8 million in grants for the next round of bond projects. The amount could go up or down, so there’s also a group of secondary projects in case money is freed up from partnerships or grants.
Each project is unique. Some already have design, planning or preliminary work started. Others are merely conceptual. A few projects are left over from the 2006 bond issue or have been on the city’s radar for years.
The Fayetteville City Council has to approve a design contract for every project. The plans for each are made available to the public as they’re created. It’s the responsibility of the City Council’s Transportation Committee to follow each project in detail.
The project list and its prioritization come after a two-year, citywide mobility plan that the city adopted in March. Public input helped shape the plan.
Mayor Lioneld Jordan said the street improvements would be the most visible of the projects in the bond referendum.
“These projects run the gamut from major roadways such as [U.S.] 71B and the arterial loop, to improved sidewalk connectivity and bicycling tracks, to better
signaling for increasing the walkability of our city,” he said.
“These street improvements foster business activity and provide a safe way for people to get around — whether by foot, by car, by bike or on public transit,” he said.
CORRIDOR WORK
Plans call for $10 million of the funding to go toward work along U.S. 71B through Fayetteville. A study to produce recommendations for work on and along that highway is underway.
The city has already widened the sidewalks, added lights and planters, and done curb and gutter work on some stretches of U.S. 71B, also called College Avenue through the city.
Garner Stoll, development services director, said the bond money would help start the first phase of a redevelopment plan for the corridor. The study looks at ways to alleviate congestion, improve aesthetics, enhance safety and usher in development.
Consulting firm RDG Planning + Design has been working for months on the plan. The final round of public comment is set to end this week, and the team will present a preliminary plan to the City Council in April.
“By having the corridor plan, it also opens up opportunities for additional resources — working with the state, working with federal money coming in and possibly even foundation money,” Stoll said.
Two projects totaling $8.8 million are set for Howard Nickell Road at Arkansas 112. The city has received a lot of complaints about the area, City Engineer Chris Brown said.
A deal is underway to have the state assume part or all of the work associated with Howard Nickell Road. The money saved could be used for other projects, Brown said. In exchange, the city would take ownership of its portion of U.S. 71B, taking it out of the state highway system.
Anything the city wants to do with College Avenue now has to get state approval first. That includes any of the
recommendations forthcoming with the corridor study, Brown said.
“It just takes out that layer of control and permitting, and gives us a lot more flexibility to do things to that road that we wouldn’t otherwise be able to do, or would be difficult to do,” he said.
Another project, estimated at $4.9 million, would overhaul parts of Zion Road. Design is complete and some work has started on the project because it was left over from the 2006 bond issue, Brown said.
Plans for the stretch include bicycle lanes and sidewalks on both sides, changing the alignment where it curves, and adding a small roundabout and turn lanes, he said.
SMALLER CORRIDORS
More than $7.6 million would be used to develop smaller corridors.
Most of those projects would include adding bicycle lanes and sidewalks, medians and crosswalks.
About $5 million would be put toward pavement and overlays. Transportation Services Director Terry Gulley said asphalt has about a 15-year lifespan before it starts to deteriorate. His department gets about $2 million, covering about 10 miles, each year for overlay maintenance.
“We need to be doing 20 miles a year to not fall behind further,” Gulley said. “For the last 10 years, we’ve been doing 10 to 12. So we’re a little bit behind.”
The city hired a consultant late last year to do a pavement analysis and inventory for main roads. Department heads will use the information to pick which streets to overlay first.
Along with the Howard Nickell Road and Arkansas 112, six other intersections are set for work. The total planned for intersections and traffic signals is $10.56 million.
City department heads have flirted with the idea of placing a roundabout at 15th Street and Razorback Road, near Baum-Walker Stadium on the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville campus.
However, it seems a signaled intersection would be more appropriate, Brown said.
Also, more than $12.6 million is planned for alternative transportation, including several bicycle tracks.
The most ambitious project would put a bicycle track along Maple Street from Gregg Avenue to Stadium Drive running through the UA campus. A preliminary deal would have the city put in $1 million with UA chipping in $1 million and the Walton Family Foundation providing a $2 million matching grant. The foundation also provided a matching grant to design the track.
A cycle track is essentially a road for bicycles elevated slightly from the street. A two-way bicycle lane would go on the south side of the street, with new sidewalks on both sides.
About $3 million would go toward building sidewalk connections and generally improving walkability downtown. Council member Matthew Petty requested the action during the City Council’s budget meeting last fall.
Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, near the UA campus, would also see its share of walkability improvements, with $1 million put toward that endeavor and $2 million set for bicycle and pedestrian connections at the Interstate 49 interchange.
About $1.75 million would be reserved for a bus rapid transit route along College Avenue and general transit needs throughout the city. The money could be put toward recommendations from a study by the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission on bus rapid transit. A bus rapid transit system involves dedicated lanes for buses and bus stops designed to reduce traffic delays from passengers getting on and off a bus.
Some transit money would be put toward bus shelters, benches, and route and way-finding signs.
Also, a safe, well-functioning and inviting sidewalk network, especially along East Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, would serve people of all ages and abilities, council member Sarah Marsh said.