Van Buren council approves intermodal authority; will study one-way street idea

The Van Buren City Council on Monday night (July 20) unanimously approved an agreement creating the Western Arkansas Intermodal Authority.

The authority requires approval from the governing bodies in Fort Smith and Van Buren, and the quorum courts in Crawford County and Sebastian County. The Crawford County  Quorum Court has approved the authority and the Fort Smith Board of Directors and Sebastian County Quorum Court are scheduled to vote today (July 21) on the authority.

According to the agreement to be considered by the four governing bodies, the primary purpose of the authority “shall be to acquire, equip, construct, maintain, and/or operate an intermodal facility or facilities” in the effort to improve shipping products into and out of the Fort Smith area. The regional multi-modal transportation authority is allowed under Act 690 of the 2001 Arkansas General Assembly.

Van Buren Mayor Bob Freeman said the council fully understand the benefit of the authority and having a intermodal system connected to a river, the area railroads, Interstate 40 and, some day, I-49.

“It has the potential to have the biggest economic impact for the long-term for this region,” Freeman said. “This is overdue. … We won’t see the success tomorrow or next month. It will take an investment of time, but it will have a huge payoff.”

ONE-WAY STREET
Freeman said Richard Hodo also presented his plan to convert the road in the downtown historic area to a one-way street.

Hodo says a one-way street would add about 50 parking spaces, which would create about 120 total parking spaces in the area. Hodo’s draft plan is to have the one way traffic travel west to the Crawford County Courthouse with parallel parking on the north side of the street and angle parking on the south.

Freeman said there was a large group at the Monday meeting ready to debate the issue, but he said the debate should happen after formal studies of the idea. Freeman said he has asked the Western Arkansas Planning and Development District to begin the study and will likely ask the Department of Arkansas Heritage to study the issue.

“Then after we pull that together, after we complete the studies, then we’ll have some public hearings,” Freeman explained.