HIGHFILL — The Arkansas Department of Transportation has offered to expand its help in building an access road to the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport by designing the overall project.
The highway department had agreed earlier this year to handle the required environmental study for the roadway. That work, being done by Garver engineers, will require a 20% local match from the airport.
Members of an airport authority board committee said last week that they think the highway department’s offer will speed up the process, after some 20 years of frustration.
“My personal opinion is we don’t need to be in the highway-building business,” said Philip Taldo, who serves on the airport board and is a state highway commissioner. “There’s precedent in the state of Arkansas for the state to build access to an airport in Little Rock, and we just want the same treatment that they got. Hopefully, that’s the route that we can take.”
The Transportation Department wrote to airport officials that it would either do the design work in-house or hire a consultant.
“The result should be significantly expediting development of the project because of our familiarity and expertise with roadway design,” according to a letter from Scott Bennett, director of the highway department.
“It should be noted that whether XNA agrees to this proposal or not, the department will need to ensure proper connectivity to the Springdale Northern Bypass and must retain design control for the interchange portion of the project. This option would still utilize the federal earmark funds with XNA providing the required match,” the letter says.
The Springdale northern bypass is also U.S. 612 and connects Interstate 49 to Arkansas 112.
Highway officials want to know if the Federal Aviation Administration will commit to help pay for the project because it will not be limited to an airport-only access, as was once the case. An estimated cost for the project cannot yet be determined.
The original plan of a long driveway to the airport, from U.S. 612 at Elm Springs, is being shelved in favor of a road that runs by the Northwest Arkansas airport and opens up access to western Benton County. That could end up being a highway around the airport with an exit.
Stan Green, a longtime authority board member, said the airport tried to make a go of building a road on its own but now it’s time to move on and forget what has happened to this point.
“This has been 20 years of confusion, frustration for everybody. And, honestly, for the longest time it felt like we were the only body in the whole state that had any interest in getting an access road out here. We didn’t get a lot of support from anybody, so we tried to do the best we can with the circumstances we were dealt,” Green said.
“Everybody acknowledges that zero progress has been made on getting a road out here, so that’s not even worth going back and debating or discussing anymore because it doesn’t really make any difference,” he said.
Taldo said airport officials have been able to build consensus around the state that an access road to the airport is needed.
“I think we’ve spent 20 years building that,” Taldo said. “And, if we get it paid for to boot, then we got a pretty good deal out of it.”
The Transportation Department authorized a study of the area west of I-49 to identify the needforandfeasibilityofawesternconnectionbetweentheU.S. 412 Springdale northern bypass and the Bella Vista bypass.
The study will look at possible road alternatives in the vicinity of the airport. While the goal is better north/south traffic flow through the region, airport officials would like to be able to connect an access road to any new construction in the area.
A study in 2011 concluded that a western beltway from the Bella Vista bypass to I-49 in the Greenland area south of Fayetteville will be needed in the future but said that there was no money identified to pay for the project at that time. The new study will likely look at the northern part of that proposed corridor.
By the numbers
Here’s a look at some how some key numbers at the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport.
Enplanements are up 12.6% , year-to-date.
Parking revenue is up $371,000, year-to-date.
Landing fees are up $83,000 over budget projections.
Fuel taxes are up $91,000 over budget projections.
Interest income is up $67,000 over budget projections.
Net operating income is $3.7 million, year-to-date, exceeding $2.4 million last year.
Source: Northwest Arkansas
Regional Airport