Orange barrels decorate NWA, Fort Smith

Drivers in Northwest Arkansas and the Fort Smith area are accustomed to seeing orange barrels but soon it might feel like they are a permanent roadway decoration.

Between several bond-funded highway projects, the half-cent sales tax funded improvements and city/state partnership projects, there are millions of dollars’ worth of road construction already underway and many more about to commence.

UPCOMING PROJECTS
According to the Northwest Arkansas Council, over the next five years Arkansas will benefit from $500 million in road infrastructure work funded from the half-cent sales tax increase. Much of that will occur in Northwest Arkansas along the very busy Interstate 540 corridor.

Shortly after July 4, the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department should know the order of projects that will be completed with the half-cent sales tax that will start being collected July 1 with money to start flowing in August, said Danny Straessle, assistant public information officer with ASHTD. While not confirmed for a few more weeks, it’s assumed that the Bella Vista Bypass will probably be the first project.

“The purpose of this project is safe and efficient movement of traffic from the Missouri state line to I-540 south of Bella Vista,” he said. “Volume has necessitated this work as the current route on U.S. Highway 71 is loaded with traffic and is not conducive to free-flow movement like an Interstate-type facility would be.”

Another major Northwest Arkansas development will be later in July, he said. The July 24 bid letting with the Arkansas Highway Commission will award a contract to widen Interstate 540 from Highway 16 to Porter Road to three lanes at an estimated cost of $9 million.

Several more highly visible projects have already started, including projects in Springdale and Fort Smith.

The project in Fort Smith is both the first of the Interstate Rehabilitation program to be let and the largest in Arkansas Highway Commission history. The $78.8 million project began in January and should take 18 months to complete.

“Work is progressing so well on the southbound lanes that we may be able to start putting traffic back on portions of that roadway sooner than expected,” Straessle said. “Southbound lane construction should wrap-up around the end of July and then both directions of traffic will be switched over to the new pavement so work can be performed on the northbound lanes.”

Another recently started project is a joint city and federally funded endeavor. The new interchange at the Don Tyson Parkway in Springdale started in May and should be done August 2014, said Patsy Christie, Springdale’s director of planning and community development.

The estimated $23 million project will give drivers access to I-540 without having to take the already congested Highway 412 through town, she said. 

BUSINESS IMPACT
As construction increases, traffic and local businesses are affected — both positively and negatively. For construction companies, it means more work now and the potential for more work in the future. That means sales and more jobs.

Emery Sapp & Sons is the contractor for both the Fayetteville flyover project and the Don Tyson Parkway interchange.

Brent Ponder, area bridge manager, said they are hiring varying numbers of temporary construction workers for each phase of the project and the number of hirings will be determined with the phase scope.

“It’s an opportunity for us to generate revenue and grow our business and hire people,” he said. “Any time there is economic growth in any area it brings in lots of things.”

5 Star Sports is an agency that is located near where construction is ongoing for the Fayetteville flyover. Dick Johnson, senior vice president of recruitment and public relations with 5 Star Sports, said that many of the agency’s 120 employees and customers go through the construction every day and that the troublesome area already causes many delays as it is. The flyover will drastically improve the situation, he said.

“Glad they are finally doing something at one of the most inconvenient places in NWA,” he said. “We applaud their efforts. We’re excited to see it happen.”

Bill and Walter Mathews own all of the McDonald’s locations in Northwest Arkansas. Their restaurant in Siloam Springs has been drastically affected by recent changes made to Highway 412 through the city.

There is now a median in the middle of the road, preventing drivers from turning left into their location, Bill Mathews said.

They’ve lost at least 10% business because of it and are in the process of moving the store to a new location that will be supported with a traffic light.

He said other locations throughout Northwest Arkansas are also going to be affected by the highway construction which is expected to last for the few years.

During the construction, it will make getting into the locations more difficult in several spots but once the work is complete, it should encourage more efficient traffic flow, thus improving their traffic, Mathews said.