Fort Smith street improvement program includes $137 million in work planned between 2017-2021

Fort Smith’s engineering department is about to enter the most cost-heavy year in a five-year infrastructure plan with $43.6 million in improvements budgeted for 2017. The number is an uptick of close to $16.2 million from 2016 and will prove to be the city’s busiest in terms of payouts with $137 million planned from 2017-2021.

The five-year capital improvement program (CIP) for streets, bridges and drainage was approved by City Directors Tuesday (Oct. 4).

The top project for 2017 is already underway. The section of Jenny Lind Road between Zero Street and Cavanaugh Road, which commanded  $7.419 million in expenditures this year, leads the way with a budgeted cost of $17.61 million. The project also includes improvements to Ingersoll Avenue from U.S. 271 to Jenny Lind and the extension of Ingersoll from Jenny Lind to U.S. 71B. Scheduled completion is set for the spring of 2018 with final payouts the following year, with more than $29 million committed to it from 2016 to 2019.

The No. 2 line item for 2017’s CIP is neighborhood drainage Improvements. For the year ahead, the city’s engineering department is more than doubling 2016’s costs, earmarking $10.049 million compared to last year’s $4.048 million. One significant drainage improvement included in the total will address flooding concerns in the area of Ramsey Junior High School and the Fort Smith Schools Service Center. These will be large channel improvements along the perimeter of school property and an extension of a closed storm drainage system across the property. Construction is estimated to begin in late 2017 and continue into 2018. The total estimated cost is $3.2 million with an estimated $150,000 expended in 2016, $1.05 million in 2017, and $2 million in 2018. The remaining $9.1 million for 2017 will address ongoing drainage improvements throughout the city.

Next up for 2017, the city will commit $4.84 million to street overlays and reconstruction with the length of streets slated for improvements at 4.8 miles. Several of the streets in the 2017 program – Old Greenwood Road, Grand Avenue, Jenny Lind Road, and Roberts Boulevard – are extra-wide and/or multi-lane. The estimated cost for the upcoming projects totals $8.1 million with $1 million expended in 2017 and $7.1 million in 2018. The $4.8 million figure includes $3.8 million in remaining construction for 2016 projects.

One potential reconstruction project that could be on the horizon pending a feasibility study requested at Thursday’s (Oct. 6) meeting of the streets, bridges, and associated drainage CIP advisory committee is a potential widening of North 50th Street from Grand Avenue to Kelley Highway and/or Kelley Highway to Midland Boulevard.

Fort Smith Engineering Director Stan Snodgrass, addressing commissioners’ concerns, said the city would contact its traffic consultant and begin doing traffic counts to determine the feasibility of widening the street from two lanes to three or five. Commissioners’ core concerns were seasonal traffic surges and the three area schools, which can create frequent congestion in the area.

The No. 4 budgeted item for 2017’s CIP is new construction of Spradling Avenue eastward from Riverfront Drive approximately 1,700 feet. The street will serve the proposed sports fields on the city’s 51-acre tract. Plans are complete and the street construction is scheduled to coincide with the construction of the sports fields which are planned to begin in 2017. Total cost is expected to be $1.3 million.

Rounding out the top five projects for 2017, the city has $1.044 million earmarked to address the North B Street truck route. This includes North B Street from 5th Street west to Riverfront Drive with the purpose of accommodating two-way truck traffic in lieu of the one-way split that exists along this section of North A and B Streets. The project is based on the concept of closing a section of North A Street and Belle Point Place to add more green space, and it includes necessary radius improvements at North 5th and B Streets and reconstruction and resurfacing of the remaining sections of North A Street, which are being removed from the truck route.

The project is on hold pending completion of Gateway Planning’s downtown study, which is expected to conclude in early 2017.