FAYETTEVILLE -- City officials are making a final push to finish widening Garland Avenue along the University of Arkansas Agri Farm, which would complete a project begun 20 years ago to improve Arkansas 112 through Fayetteville.
The work has cost more than $17 million to date.
Arkansas 112 long-range plan
The state Department of Transportation commissioned a study in 2015 of the Arkansas 112 corridor with recommended improvements. It’s available at: nwarpc.org/datacata….
Source: ArDOT
Arkansas 112 is the state highway designation for Razorback Road, Maple Street and Garland Avenue.
Garland Avenue plans call for a four-lane, divided road with a raised median, sidewalk, bike trail and a roundabout near the university Division of Agriculture facilities.
The Arkansas Department of Transportation will pay for the new project, and the city will do the work.
Chris Brown, city engineer, said Fayetteville hopes to have the work from Janice Avenue to Drake Street done in two to three years. Design is scheduled to be completed by the middle of next year with work expected to begin by the end of 2021.
When completed, there will be a four-lane thoroughfare cutting all the way through campus from Interstate 49 on the south to I-49 on the north.
Randy Ort, Transportation Department deputy director and chief operating officer, said money for the project is in hand. Economic fallout from the covid-19 pandemic won't affect the Garland project, or any projects that are underway, because department policy does not allow awarding contracts until it has the money.
"The completion of Arkansas 112 has been a long time coming for sure, as many transportation projects are, especially ones on the state highway system and that have federal funding involved," Brown said. "North Street to Janice was started in 2006 as part of our 2006 bond program, so we will be in excess of 15 years in the making by the time we complete the last segment from Janice to I-49."
Ort said six jobs have been let to contract for the overall project over the past 20 years at a total construction cost of about $13 million. The city has contributed $4 million. Those costs do not include the currently proposed work to finish widening Garland.
The Transportation Department will hand the road over to the city and remove the highway designation after work is completed. The department has been shedding miles from the state system by making deals with cities in recent years to reduce maintenance costs.
"The city's work is complete on Razorback and Maple. The university plans to do some more work once it becomes a city street," Brown said. "I think there are just some paperwork items to finalize the transfer of the section between 15th Street and North Street to the city."
The state is keeping possession of and designing the improvements for the road north of I-49 in the city limits. The project has a tentative bid date of 2022. The city will share the cost for additional trail and green space the city requested.
A long, winding road
The city, university and Transportation Department have worked almost two decades to widen and improve the highway through and near campus.
"Despite the long time frame, we have had excellent partners in ArDOT and the University of Arkansas, their funding and support of the project have been essential," Brown said.
The three began negotiations in 1999 about ways to relieve congestion on Garland. Work has been done in fits and starts since.
The plan included agreements the state would either do the work or pay for it. The city would maintain ownership and responsibility of the road, with the university continuing landscaping duties along portions through campus.
Work began in 2002 on the section on Garland from Maple Street to North Street, according to Mike Johnson, associate vice chancellor for facilities management.
Then came a portion of Razorback Road from 15th Street to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Razorback was widened several years later along the outdoor track field and football stadium to Maple and up the hill to Garland.
Razorback Road received traffic signals at the Maple Street and Leroy Pond intersections and sidewalks separated from both sides of the street by up to 10 feet of green space with trees.
The widening of Garland from North to Melmar Drive wrapped in August 2014. The project included an additional lane of traffic in each direction, new stoplights at Deane, Holly and Sycamore streets, sidewalks, curb and gutter and a tree-lined median.
Progress was shelved in March 2015 because of continued uncertainty over whether money would be available from the Federal Highway Trust Fund, but, in January 2017, a new deal was reached.
Construction was delayed in 2018 when students returned in August and resumed after graduation in May 2019,
"Most of the UA-related pieces are essentially completed," Johnson said.
There remains some lighting to install, trees to plant and irrigation to put in, Johnson said.
Down the road
The state plans to widen and improve Arkansas 112 into a four-lane, western corridor with managed access from Fayetteville to Bentonville. The corridor is 18 miles long.
Improving the route is vital to the region's transportation system because few roads traverse the entire region from north to south, according to Tim Conklin at the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission.
Arkansas 112 is the only major route west of Interstate 49, which makes it critical for regional mobility as the area continues to grow, he said.
Regional planners in January 2019 sent a plan to the state, which is ultimately responsible for the design and work. Final alignment of the road has not been determined.
The Transportation Department has set aside $37.5 million for various work in the 112 corridor along with $10 million for a new interchange at Arkansas 112 and U.S. 412. Regional planners estimate another $180 million will be spent on Arkansas 112 between 2021 and 2030.
A study recommends moving the road in the Greathouse Springs area, which is between Fayetteville and Tontitown, just north of the Blessings Golf Club, because of the severity of the curves along that stretch. It recommends a new approach and straightening at the Arkansas 112 and U.S. 412 intersection in Tontitown.
The plan recommends keeping the road in the current alignment through Elm Springs because floodplain and rough terrain around the city could make construction prohibitively expensive. The plan includes the option of bypassing Cave Springs. The new alignment would bypass several sharp curves south of Bentonville.
Bike lanes and sidewalks are also recommended.
NW News on 05/03/2020