MLK/I-49 project in Fayetteville might exceed $60M

The Arkansas Department of Transportation (ArDOT) is taking comments on the proposed interchange project to improve traffic flow at Interstate 49 and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard (U.S. Highway 62) in south Fayetteville.

Dave Parker, public information officer for ArDOT, said the project is estimated to cost between $50 million and $60 million, but that might change by the time construction starts.

“That obviously could go a little higher because the way things are with cost on [materials] right now, and we’re dealing with that like anybody,” Parker said.

He said construction is expected to start in late 2023 or early 2024.

ArDOT will accept comments on the project until 4:30 p.m. Thursday (June 29). On June 14, at least 50 people attended an in-person meeting at the Fayetteville Public Library that included large maps and allowed attendees to provide comments and ask ArDOT staff about the project.

Preliminary plans show the existing interchange would be reconfigured to include more turn lanes on the I-49 exit and on-ramps and on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to allow for more traffic to exit and get onto the interstate. I-49 would be widened to six lanes from north of the Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard interchange to the U.S. Highway 71/Highway 265 interchange to the south.

Also, Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard would be widened to six lanes with a grass median, from west of 1 Mile Road to the existing interchange. A traffic signal would be added at South Oak Road, and the intersection at 1 Mile Road would be reconfigured to improve traffic flow.

The existing on and off ramps south of the interchange would be relocated to the south and be adjacent to a new two-lane overpass that would be built at 15th Street as part of the project. Roundabouts would be included on the east and west sides of the new overpass.

Parker said multiple public meetings on this project have been hosted in the past several years, and staff will take into consideration the input from the recent meeting and the comments through June 29 before completing design work on the interchange project.

“We know with the congestion, the growth, it’s needed,” he said. “We’re about ready to go ahead with everything.”

According to ArDOT data, I-49 just north of the interchange had an average traffic volume of 62,000 vehicles per day in 2021, up from 59,000 vehicles per day in 2019. The data also shows that Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard west of I-49 had an average traffic volume of 44,000 vehicles per day in 2021, up from 42,000 vehicles per day in 2019 and 2020.