Officials give updates on Northwest Arkansas transportation projects

Area transportation leaders provided updates on key transportation projects in Northwest Arkansas, including the Springdale Northern Bypass, Arkansas Highway 112 widening and Northwest Arkansas National Airport (XNA) connector road.

On Tuesday (April 22), the Bentonville Area Chamber of Commerce hosted its Build Bentonville lunch series event focused on regional transportation infrastructure. More than 200 area business professionals attended the event, which included a panel of transportation and commercial real estate leaders. Brandom Gengelbach, the chamber’s president and CEO, was the moderator.

Robert Moore, District 9 engineer for the Arkansas Department of Transportation (ARDOT), said that over the past 10 years, $1.5 billion in highway projects have been completed, are under construction or are set to start soon in Benton County. This comprises 458 miles of roads and 199 projects, most of which have been completed.

He said ARDOT has $273 million in projects under construction in Benton County. This includes 24 projects and 36 miles of roads. About $478 million in projects are set to start soon. This includes 25 projects and 45 miles of roads.

Moore said work on the second phase of the Springdale Northern Bypass, between Interstate 49 and Highway 112, will be completed in 2027. Columbia, Mo.-based Emery Sapp & Sons Inc. is the contractor for the $180.78 million project. The nearly $1 billion bypass will be over 21 miles long and built in four phases. It comprises a four-lane, interstate-style highway running from U.S. Highway 412 in west Tontitown and reconnecting to Highway 412 east of Springdale.

He said the third phase will be 3 miles long, from I-49 to Arkansas Highway 265, and is expected to cost between $200 million and $250 million. This segment is expected to be ready for construction by the end of this year. Money has yet to become available for the fourth phase, running from Highway 265 to Highway 412.

XNA CONNECTOR, 112 PROJECT
The XNA connector road is 4 miles long and runs from the segment of the Springdale Northern Bypass that’s under construction to XNA. Columbus, Kan.-based Crossland Construction Co. is the contractor for the $127.67 million project. Like the Springdale Northern Bypass, it’s a four-lane, interstate-style highway. Work will be completed in mid-2027.

Marshall Saviers, CEO and principal of Cushman & Wakefield / Sage Partners, said the connector will “open up the west side of Bentonville and Benton County to all kinds of different uses.” He said motorists from north of XNA will be able to reach I-49 faster than going through Bentonville. He said it will ease congestion through the city and allow people to reach XNA more quickly.

“At Sage, we’re always looking for what are the next sites for whatever type of use we’re heavily involved in, especially on the industrial side,” Saviers said. “We’re trying to find sites up and around here, both around the connector road and also 412, and the Springdale bypass will connect there in the Tontitown area.”

He said the growth of Northwest Arkansas is going west because of Beaver Lake and the terrain to the east, and the connector will serve the western part of the county and city.

Parallel and west of I-49, the Highway 112 project will widen the highway to four lanes from Fayetteville to Bentonville. Moore said as money becomes available, it’s expected to cost between $300 million and $350 million. It will be built in multiple phases, with the existing focus between Truckers Drive near Sam’s Club and West Howard Nickell Road in Fayetteville. This 1.5-mile phase is expected to cost between $30 million and $40 million. The project is slated to be bid by the end of this year.

Moore said ARDOT is purchasing land to build the remaining segments of the Highway 112 project. Most of the seven phases will be ready for bid in 2027, and two segments will be ready for bid in 2026.

RAZORBACK GREENWAY
Tim Reavis, multimodal transportation planner for the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission, provided updates on the project to develop a long-range plan for the 40-mile Razorback Greenway. The Walton Family Foundation’s Northwest Arkansas Design Excellence Program supports the plan.

“Northwest Arkansas is growing like crazy… 1 million people by 2050 is what the Arkansas Economic Development Institute is showing,” Reavis said. “How can we leverage the greenway that’s built to continue to make Northwest Arkansas a great place to live, work and be?”

The project will be completed in two phases. The first phase will be completed by the end of this year, and the second phase will start next year.

The first phase will include a regional framework and the development of “a vision for what the greenway can be,” he said. “We know it’s a recreational trail facility, but can it be more than that? Can it be an active transportation corridor?”

Reavis presented a map of the greenway showing the number of acres within a half-mile of the trail that have zero improvements. In Bentonville, 923 acres have zero improvements. He said the land is an opportunity to connect the cities and the greenway.

Saviers said the number is a metric that needs to be promoted to developers.

“Folks gravitate to the trail. They gravitate to the greenway,” he said. “It gives them a lot more optionality of how to get to work, how to get to do what they want to do.” He said people are willing to pay more to be closer to trails, but the question is how much more. “We can show that stat of how many acres are available. That’s certainly something we can use to our advantage.”

The second phase of the planning project will allow the cities to develop their own plans along the greenway “that they can hone into, go into detailed work, identify key pieces of property, identify key connections that they want to make to other trails (and) identify park projects,” he said.

Jessica Pearson, coalition manager of Bentonville Moves Coalition, said the city has plans for 90 miles of new bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure, and most of it is adjacent to an existing road or greenway. Dan Weese, transportation director for Bentonville, said the project to improve Eighth Street is the culmination of at least 27 years of planning.

“It’s still going on,” he said. “We still have more things happening on Eighth Street.” On the east side, the city recently opened a new segment of Water Tower Road near NorthWest Arkansas Community College. On the west side, the city is building a new park, another project supported by the Design Excellence Program.