FAYETTEVILLE -- City officials are looking to piggyback onto the state's overhaul of the Interstate 49 and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard interchange to improve traffic flow in the southwestern part of town.
The city is considering adding a roundabout west of the interstate and south of the boulevard to bookend a state highway roundabout on the east side, and connecting the two with an overpass. The state intends to extend both frontage roads, Shiloh Drive and Futrall Drive, south toward Razorback Road and Cato Springs Road.
The work would improve access to Kessler Mountain Regional Park and the area around the University of Arkansas' Baum Stadium and South Razorback Road.
Chris Brown, city engineer, said the state invited the city to participate on the project.
Issues arose after Northwest Medical decided to put an emergency clinic on Shiloh Drive, south of the interchange, about the time the state released its latest concept for the area, Brown said. Northwest Medical asked the city to find a way to make it easier to get people in and out of the medical clinic.
After looking at several options, including a long driveway west to Walmart, city officials decided to look closer at the state's plans, which already had one roundabout on the east side of I-49, Brown said. They came up with the idea to add an overpass to a roundabout on the west side.
"That does several things," Brown said. "Because 15th Street has been extended almost to where this is with new development, that makes a connection that creates a lot of opportunities for people to get on and off in some of this new development area and creates another access point onto the highway from 15th Street."
The city asked the state Department of Transportation to consider adding the city's ideas to the project, if the city pays a portion of the cost.
The city says its plans could save the state some money by eliminating some of the planned access road extensions.
"What we've done recently is we've hired Garver [Engineers] to get us a cost estimate for this and run an operational analysis because the highway department said if we can prove it will work, then we'll consider adding it to the project," Brown said. "They want to make sure it works and is not going to mess anything else up, and they expect the city to pay whatever the additional costs are."
Brown said the city hasn't determined how to pay for the project yet.
"We've got the bond program; we've got lots of projects that we've identified. This project would probably have to push some of those other projects down in order to get this done," Brown said. "But, really, we can't even make those decisions until we know what the cost is and whether the highway department is going to go for it. Maybe by as early as March, we'll have that information."
Northwest Arkansas is leading other areas in the state when it comes to partnering on projects with the department, according to Tim Conklin with the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission.
"Northwest Arkansas communities understand the importance of advancing high-priority transportation projects by partnering with [the Arkansas Department of Transportation]," Conklin said. "All four major Northwest Arkansas cities have all stepped up with local funds to advance [state] projects to improve mobility within their city and throughout the region."
Bentonville has partnered more than any city in the state, contributing more than $35 million to eight projects. Rogers contributed $30.6 million on six projects; Fayetteville paid $27 million toward 12 projects; and Springdale has put $24 million toward four projects, according to a highway department presentation in September.
Springdale is considering an overpass project to take Har-Ber Avenue over I-49. That wouldn't be a partnership project. Rogers opened its Magnolia Street overpass Oct. 8, which was built to reduce traffic. The city plans two more overpasses, one just south of Mercy Hospital Northwest and the other at Oak Street. The city will pay for both through its 2018 bond program. Interstate overpasses require approval from the state Transportation Department.
The interchange at Martin Luther King Boulevard is expected to be replaced with a single-point urban interchange with work beginning about 2022.
A single-point urban interchange is designed to move a large volume of traffic through limited space. It's expected to feature a traffic signal at the center of the interchange controlling left turns from all directions. The approaches will be changed, and there will be three lanes for traffic to turn north on I-49.
Interstate 49 will continue to go over the boulevard, officials said. The project is tentatively expected to go out for bids after 2020 and cost $20 million to $30 million.
State Desk on 11/28/2019