ARDOT director approves $43.9 million Highway 112 project

The first segment of an 18-mile project to widen Arkansas Highway 112 between Fayetteville and Bentonville will cost $43.94 million. Arkansas Department of Transportation (ARDOT) awarded the 1.44-mile segment of the project to APAC-Central Inc. in Fayetteville.

This segment runs from Truckers Drive near Sam’s Club to Howard Nickell Road and will widen the road to four lanes with a raised center median. The new highway will have three roundabouts, two turnarounds, sidewalks, a 12-foot-wide shared-use path, and a 14-foot-wide, 10-foot-tall, and 177-foot-long pedestrian tunnel constructed south of the roundabout at Van Asche Drive. Other roundabouts will be north of Truckers Drive and at Howard Nickell Road.

On Oct. 16, ARDOT Director Jared Wiley approved the contract, which includes $11.6 million for relocating city water and sewer infrastructure.

“The cost of transportation projects continues to rise,” Wiley said. “As vehicles become increasingly more fuel efficient and electric vehicle purchases grow, user-based revenue for highways, county roads, and city streets is not keeping pace with the rising costs of construction. To widen a highway from two to four lanes today, we expect to pay over $20 million per mile. It is likely that construction costs for the 18-mile Highway 112 corridor widening projects will exceed $500 million. When right-of-way and utility costs are factored in, the price tag exceeds $700 million in today’s dollars.”

Construction on the first segment of the 18-mile project is expected to start in early 2026, and once underway, it will take about one year and nine months to complete.

According to ARDOT data, average daily traffic on this segment of Highway 112 ranges from 11,000 to 12,000 vehicles per day.