Shale mining, I-49 dominate Chaffee meeting

story and photo by Marla Cantrell
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There’s a hell of a lot of shale at Chaffee Crossing — more than $1 million dollar’s worth.

Two companies, C. Watts and Sons and Blake Construction are mining shale and transporting it to the nearby construction site of the short section of Interstate 49 through Chaffee Crossing. This year, Watts is expected to mine 900,000 cubic yards of shale at $.80 a cubic yard, which should bring in $720,000. Blake is paying $1.70 a cubic yard for 400,000 cubic yards of shale, which should add another $680,000.

Ivy Owen, executive director of the Fort Chaffee Redevelopment Authority, said the discrepancy between the contracts is based on the type and amount of shale mined.

It’s unusual to have a source of shale so close to the road being constructed. Watts and Blake are able to uncover the rock, load it onto dump trucks and then drive the short distance to the I-49 construction site. Twelve workers mine the shale. Lights have been installed so work can continue into the evening hours. Owen said he sees the miners when he arrives in the morning and as late as eight at night.

“The harder the shale is the more valuable it is,” Owen said. “Our engineering firm, Mickle Wagner Coleman, has identified four or five shale deposits on Chaffee land.  When the highway department was laying the contracts on I-49, a big part of that was the dirt work, which included fill for the overpasses. They have certain specifications.  Under the ramp a certain kind of shale, on the highway itself it’s another level. Each one of these pits may have a different type of shale in it.”

There are only two pits being mined. One is just outside the FCRA’s office. Once the shale has been removed there will be a 15 to 20 acre hole left behind.  Owen said it will either be refilled, sodded and restored to its prior condition — by the contractor — or turned into a lake, if the Authority chooses to do so.  He said the massive pits are the perfect opportunity to bring water into the landscape.

While he’s hoping to create a manmade lake near his office, he’s fighting to save a natural one. Finger Lake, a popular fishing site, is near another shale pit off Chad Colley and Custer Boulevards. I-49 is cutting across that area and the Arkansas Highway department wants to drain it.

“This highway down here is covering up Finger Lake,” Owen said. “The right-of-way is taking away that lake and there’s a shale pit adjacent to the lake. So because we have a green initiative, I suggested we use it as an extension of the lake. So instead of losing the lake, just move it over. The highway department said you can’t have water within 300 feet of the highway right-of-way.”

Still, a district engineer from the Arkansas Highway Department visited the site. The FCRA received a written response denying the request, but Owen isn’t ready to give up. He thinks there’s a chance the new 15-acre lake could receive an 11th hour reprieve.

But the shale isn’t the only material being used in the construction of this section of I-49. The highway department is using pieces of foundations left after the January 2008 fire that destroyed more than 100 buildings, many of them barracks used during World War II. Owen said there will be a sign telling travelers they’re driving across a piece of old Fort Chaffee when the road is complete.

Owen is anxious for that to happen. Drainage and grading structures for 2.27 miles of the four-lane road, at Custer Boulevard and Highway 22 are finished. It cost $17.42 million. Two other projects, one at Taylor Avenue and Arkansas 22 and another at Custer Boulevard are underway. The combined cost is estimated at $25 million. But federal funding is still pending for the Jenny Lind phase, which is the 6-mile stretch between Arkansas 22 and U.S. 71. It’s expected to cost $30 million.

“We’ve given the highway department the right-of-way,” Owen said. “They’ve spent a ton of money. It’s a vital link even if it’s just from Highway 71 to Highway 22 to get goods and products in and out of Chaffee. Right now it’s Highway 59 across the river, or Rogers Avenue to the interstate or down Chad Colley to Rye Hill. We need to be connected nationally, even internationally through New Orleans, and especially through the Midwest.”

Eventually, I-49 will run from Kansas City to New Orleans, at a cost of $4.9 billion. The 185-mile U.S. 71 corridor between Alma and Texarkana will account for more than $3 billion of that amount.

In the meantime, Owen is cashing in on the construction through Chaffee land, calling it “blue sky money.” So far, the FCRA has received approximately $100,000 since the shale mining began. The FCRA is still deciding what to do with the windfall, but Owen doesn’t think it will be hard to do.

“One of our main goals is to preserve Chaffee’s history,” he said. “We’ve got several ideas. We’re already thinking about a new park where the chimneys were left standing after the fire, if it’s structurally feasible. We could save a few and call it Chimney Park.”