Fort Smith to maintain I-540/Rogers Avenue interchange

Who do we believe about poor maintenance and appearance of the Interstate 540 and Rogers Avenue interchange in Fort Smith — the city of Fort Smith or Arkansas highway officials?

That was the essence of a simple but pointed question asked by Ken Efurd during a recent Fort Smith Rotary Club meeting. One the receiving end of the question were Arkansas Highway Commissioner Dick Trammel and Joe Shipman, district engineer for the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department.

Shipman took the question, and answered that the AHTD mows three times a year the interchanges, rights of way and medians on Interstate 540 through Fort Smith. Also, Shipman cited Springdale as an example of how the state and community worked together to improve an interstate interchange. In that city, Shipman explained, an “adopt a spot” was granted to the city and officials there raised funds to landscape and maintain the I-540 and U.S. 412 interchange.

If Fort Smith wants to do the same, the state “would be more than happy” to assign the city a similar option, Shipman explained to Efurd, who is a Realtor with Ron Calhoun & Associates.

Shipman told The City Wire that his office has not received formal requests from the city to partner on the interchange or to complain about the interchange. However, state highway officials in Little Rock have received a letter of complaint.

The concern about the appearance of the interchange has been a frequent complaint of Fort Smith Mayor Ray Baker during board meetings and board study sessions. Following a most recent comment by Baker, the city staff sent a letter — signed by Baker — in mid-October to all five Arkansas Highway Commissioners. The letter was copied to Gov. Mike Beebe; Sen. Denny Altes, R-Fort Smith; Reps. Frank Glidewell, R-Fort Smith, Stephanie Malone, R-Fort Smith, and Tracy Pennartz, D-Fort Smith; and AHTD Director Dan Flowers.

“The Rogers Ave./Arkansas Highway 22 interchange is one of the gateway entrances to our city. The deplorable condition of the medians greatly detracts from Fort Smith’s appearance and creates an unfavorable image of the state and city,” Baker noted in his letter. (See below the complete text of the letter.)

But the city isn’t waiting for an answer. In the proposed 2010 budget is about $30,000 for frequent mowing, basic upkeep and “removing scraggly vegetation” of the I-540/Rogers Avenue interchange, said Ray Gosack, deputy city administrator.

“We did that because the past maintenance of that has been an embarrassment for Fort Smith, and for Arkansas, and we recognized that the only way to remedy that is for the city to fulfill the state’s responsibility,” Gosack said.

Gosack said the interchange will get about two mowings a month.

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Following is the text of the letter from Fort Smith Mayor Ray Baker to members of the Arkansas Highway Commission.

I’m writing to ask your help with a matter that’s distressing many of our citizens.  The right-of-way along I-540 in Fort Smith hasn’t been mowed in many, many weeks.  The enclosed pictures show that the grass is 3’ to 5’ tall.

This unsightly and unhealthy condition negatively impacts our community and citizens.  Residents whose homes adjoin the unmowed right-of-way are reporting increasing problems with rodents, skunks and other vermin.  The unkempt right-of-way is providing a harborage area for these animals.  The tall and wild appearance of the grass also creates an unsightly image of Fort Smith.  The Rogers Ave./Arkansas Highway 22 interchange is one of the gateway entrances to our city.  The deplorable condition of the medians greatly detracts from Fort Smith’s appearance and creates an unfavorable image of the state and city.

Past contacts with AHTD staff and our legislators have not resolved this problem of unmowed rights-of-way.  I’m writing to you as a last resort, asking that resources be allocated to regularly mow the I-540 right-of-way in Fort Smith next year.  I hope that AHTD will fulfill its obligations to Fort Smith’s residents by properly maintaining the vegetation along its interstate highways.  Thank you for your help and for your service to the citizens of Arkansas.