SPRINGDALE -- The City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved construction contracts for two road projects totaling roughly $8.5 million.
The city will contract with APAC-Central for $7,593,824 to improve about a mile of North 40th Street from Falcon Road north to the J.B. and Jonelle Hunt Family Ozark Highlands Nature Center. The city will use funds from the 2018 bond issue to pay for the new road.
APAC also submitted the low bid and was awarded the contract for the 2021 overlay project at $919,040.
The new part of 40th will include two lanes of traffic and one turn lane in the center, said Ryan Carr, the assistant director of engineering for the city. The city will install curb and gutters to supply drainage, replacing individual pipe culverts, he said.
Sidewalks will line both sides of the street, with the west sidewalk a 12-foot footpath to become part of the city's trail system and a connection to the Razorback Greenway.
Completion is expected near the end of 2022, Carr said.
APAC crews also will mill and apply asphalt to patch about 30 small sections of streets in the downtown area, Carr continued.
City Public Works crews have spent the past few months digging out highly damaged areas down to the base layer and subgrade, then rebuilding it, Carr said.
The project should see completion before cold weather moves in this fall, Carr said. Freezing temperatures cool the asphalt too quickly, not allowing time for smoothing and finishing.
This will mark the first year of a five-year overlay project to improve streets across the city, spending about $1 million each year. The city will complete similar repairs in other zones of the city each year.
A recent survey of all the streets helped the city staff prioritize repairs, Carr said. The survey identified more streets needing overlays in the central zone, which has the oldest streets in the city, he said.
The survey of street conditions rated about 80% of the city's overall street infrastructure as in good or fair condition, Carr told the City Council on Feb. 21. Only 1% received the lowest rating, "failed."
All streets deteriorate over time, and repairs become more costly, said Brad Baldwin, the city's director of engineering and Public Works.
The city's last overlay program was completed in 2011, he said.
The city also continues work to extend Spring Creek Trail from the Thunder Chicken trailhead about three-quarters of a mile to the nature center on 40th Street.
Improvements to 40th Street north of the Spring Creek bridge to Wagon Wheel Road currently are not planned, Carr said.
The Hunt nature center -- opened in December -- highlights the ecology and landscape of the Ozarks throughout its 2,700-square-foot exhibit hall and 63 acres. The Game & Fish Commission, which built and operates the center opened in December, expects 100,000 visitors a year.