Highway 112 Study Complete; Four-Lane Could Cost $134M

The Arkansas Highway Commission recently accepted a study of Arkansas Highway 112, meaning the project can now move into the planning and funding phases.

Commissioned by the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission, the study, conducted by the Arkansas Highway & Transportation Department, envisions a four-lane road for 20 miles between Fayetteville and Bentonville.

The proposed price tag is between $108 million and $134 million, a figure that includes right-of-way and utility relocation, according the study.

Along with Arkansas Highway 265, in the process of being widened to four lanes, 112 is seen as crucial in alleviating congestion on Interstate 49.

Now that the study is done, regional planners are hoping to include it in the 2016-2019 Transportation Improvement Plan, or TIP, and by extension, the Statewide Transportation Improvement Plan, or STIP. Once included in the STIP, the project would be eligible for state and federal funding, said Jeff Hawkins, executive director of the regional planning commission.

“We’d like for it to be on the STIP list,” he said. “We’d like to get started on 112.”