Infrastructure Improvements Keep Bentonville Up to Speed

Anyone who’s ever driven through the intersection of Walton Boulevard and Arkansas Highway 102 in 5 p.m. traffic knows Bentonville’s infrastructure is overburdened.

But thanks to $20 million in funding from the state’s revolving loan fund program, the city will get some much needed relief over the next six to eight years. That money will be used to widen roads, add streets, complete a new water/sewer loop and to double the size of Bentonville’s existing water treatment plant.

It’s no wonder that the improvements are needed.

Curt Loyd, president of the Bentonville Chamber of Commerce, says the city’s population has increased by 250 percent since 1970. From the 1990 U.S. census to the 1998 study conducted by the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission, Bentonville’s population increased 66 percent, from 11,257 to 18,701.

Loyd says the city has tried to build as it has grown. But the combination of the 1990s’ economic boom and vendors moving in to service Bentonville’s Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has made keeping up a difficult proposition.

“The city is definitely doing a good job,” Loyd says. “If we already had more infrastructure in place, we would already be more developed. But most of our congestion problems have had to do with the way the city was originally laid out.

“The city’s fathers didn’t see us becoming the metroplex that we are now.”

Britt Vance, in his fifth year as the Bentonville’s public works director, says, despite rush hour frustrations, the most important part of the project lies in the Vaughn area southwest of Bentonville. The project includes four miles of 12-inch water line that will be squared-off around Arkansas highways 12 and 279.

It will cost about $500,000, including right-of-way agreements.

“If you’re not on top of the wastewater curve, you’ll be under it,” Vance says. Vance says with the arrival of the new regional airport at Highfill, the city hopes to shift development in that direction.

The commercial property areas that front U.S. Highway 71 and Walton Boulevard on the east side of town are already overcrowded. And developers have also filled in residential areas on both the Northeast and Northwest corners of Bentonville.

“Frankly, the development along the interstate has put a burden on us,” Vance says. “It’s been so fast and furious that it’s been difficult to keep the infrastructure up.

“We will continue to meet all of the challenges that come to our area, and it will help if we could get it turned toward the southwest end of town.”

Whether or not the full potential of the commercial areas near Highfill and Vance will ever be realized remains to be seen. But at least one street project will make accessing that corner of town a lot easier.

In addition to the expected completion of Arkansas 102’s widening in late July, Phase II of Southeast 28th Street’s extension will link it all the way from Moberly Lane to Walton Boulevard near the turnoff for the airport.

The project is costing around $900,000 including right-of-way agreements. The city just finished a massive, $3 million project in February.

Tiger Boulevard, which used to dead-end into Bentonville High School, was extended all the way from Walton Boulevard to Northeast “J” Street. Vance says the 1.5-year project gave the city its only real east-west connector street on the north side of town.

“It’s unbelievable what all we have going on in terms of infrastructure development,” Vance says. “We’re actually building in some roads where there have never been roads before. You won’t find that phenomenon in other cities. It’s unique and a little more progressive than what we’ve done in the past.”

The last stage of Bentonville’s infrastructure initiative is building a $9 million wastewater treatment facility. Plans call for the facility to be a mirror image of the city’s current plant, doubling its capacity.

Loyd says the city’s commitment to improving its water lines includes money budgeted for additional lift stations around town. And he credits the city with having the foresight to increase its water treatment facility’s capacity before its capacity becomes critical.

Despite Bentonville’s rapid growth, Vance says development has not come along too quickly.

“We’re not crying uncle yet,” Vance says.