A Road Through Paradise (OPINION)

It used to be called the Springdale Northern Bypass. That was back in the day, before the recession, when no one knew if the road would ever be built.

But now that a contract’s been let and dirt’s being moved, it’s the U.S. 412 Northern Bypass. Take Springdale out of it. Don’t play favorites. Make it a regional thing. Fair enough. What matters is that it’s finally being built.

Touted as the corridor that will unclog the arteries of Northwest Arkansas, the bypass, and its Bella Vista counterpart, will be the backbone of a true highway system, not a makeshift grid of overgrown country lanes.

The part now under construction cuts across Wagon Wheel Road in the little valley between Interstate 49 and Arkansas Highway 112, and will eventually slice through the Brush Creek area in Benton County. Years down the line, when the eastern leg is built, it will cut across Monitor and Parsons roads in rural Washington County.

And plenty of people do. So while the rest of the region celebrates the coming of the bypass, there are probably those who wish their little corner of the world would remain frozen in time.

And who can blame them? If you live out in one of the aforementioned areas with one of the aforementioned setups, chances are you’ve already made it. The time for fighting is over.

But the bypass is coming. Northwest Arkansas will lose a few pieces of paradise. And let’s hope it’s just that — a few.