ArDOT wants feedback on Highway 112 widening project

Arkansas Department of Transportation (ArDOT) will host a meeting Thursday (April 27) to receive feedback on revised plans for a 3.9-mile project to widen Arkansas Highway 112 between Truckers Drive and Howard Nickell Road in Fayetteville. Construction is expected to cost between $15 million and $20 million.

Plans show the two-lane Highway 112 segment will be widened to four lanes, divided by a 15-foot-wide raised median, and include three roundabouts and two turnarounds. Roundabouts will be installed between Truckers Drive and Van Asche Drive, at Van Asche Drive and at Howard Nickell Road. Turnarounds will be east of Promenade Lane and at the new driveway for Fellowship Bible Church.

The meeting will take place from 4 to 7 p.m. Thursday at Mount Comfort Church of Christ at 3249 W. Mount Comfort Road in Fayetteville. ArDOT staff and project documents will be available at the meeting. Comments on the project will be accepted at the meeting and online. The deadline to submit comments is 4:30 p.m. May 12. Link here for project documents and comment form.

According to ArDOT, the project is expected to reduce traffic congestion, improve safety and drainage, and accommodate cyclists and pedestrians. Plans also show the project will include a 5-foot-wide sidewalk and a 12-foot-wide sidepath.

Dave Parker, public information officer for ArDOT, said the project will include a tunnel for the shared-use path along Highway 112. Plans show the tunnel running southwest to the northeast under the highway just south of the proposed roundabout at Van Asche Drive.

Parker said right-of-way acquisition is underway for the project. ArDOT expects to take bids on the project in late 2024. Once work starts, construction would take two or three years to complete.

According to ArDOT data, the average daily traffic for the Highway 112 segment is 13,000 vehicles per day, up from 10,000 vehicles per day in 2019.

In November, ArDOT sought feedback on a 4.07-mile project to widen Highway 112 from Fayetteville to Tontitown. Plans for the $65.5 million project included widening the highway to four lanes, divided by a 15-foot-wide raised median, and installing seven roundabouts. Work was projected to start in June 2024 and be completed in multiple phases by 2027.

In another Highway 112 project, construction to widen a nearly 12-mile segment of the highway from Tontitown to Bentonville was expected to start in 2023. In 2021, it was estimated to be an $87.9 million project and be completed in multiple phases over three years.