Walnut Street Widening Complete

After snarling traffic for two years, the widening of West Walnut Street in Rogers was officially completed Sept. 29, and all five lanes of the business thoroughfare were opened to motorists.

r”Absolutely, it’s going to help,” said Bill McClard, vice president of the commercial division of Lindsey & Associates, a real estate agency with an office on West Walnut. “We’ve had the section in front of our office open for the past six weeks, and it makes a difference.”

r The $4.9 million project, which began in 1998, widened a 2.2-mile section of West Walnut, which is also U.S. Highway 71B, from three to five lanes (including a center turn lane) between Dixieland Road and Interstate 540. A 1.5-mile section of the project, the stretch of Walnut from 28th Street to Interstate 540, was opened in late July.

rThree lanes of the street remained open during the construction, but turning into driveways along that stretch was confusing and caused bottleneck traffic congestion, McClard said.

rMcClard said it has been difficult to market commercial property for sale along West Walnut during the construction. Two of his clients, Rusty and Jill Leigh, were waiting for construction to be completed before opening their catfish restaurant, The Trotline Restaurant, at 2813 West Walnut. The Leighs planned to open the restaurant Oct. 3 in a 4,800-SF building they are leasing.

r”Everybody we talked to since we moved here [in early August] has said how they tried to avoid 71B, West Walnut,” Jill Leigh said. “So that didn’t sound good to us trying to open a new restaurant.”

rrRetail Reaction

rThe opening of Walnut is no doubt a relief for area merchants preparing for the holiday shopping season, said Raymond Burns, president of the Rogers-Lowell Chamber of Commerce.

r”It’s a wonderful improvement, especially the area that’s already done,” said Anne Burbage, manager of Dixieland Mall, which is located on West Walnut and has 27 stores. “I was really impressed with the fact that it didn’t really hinder traffic that much during the repairs.”

r”Definitely, I think it will help,” said Sheryl Ross, who has owned The Consignory, a consignment shop at its present location on West Walnut since October 1999.

r”I’ve been at this location ever since they’ve been working on it, so I don’t know what it was like before,” Ross said. “I hope it will be better.”

rRoss said she never really complained about the construction (except when it blocked her driveway periodically for a couple of weeks.). At least it made motorists slow down and stop at her business, she said.

rBefore construction began on West Walnut, there was speculation that some businesses might be forced to close because of the inconvenience.

rBut Blake Benson, director of marketing and communications for the Rogers-Lowell Chamber of Commerce, said he doesn’t think that’s the case.

r”The large majority of people made it through just fine,” Benson said. “I would dare say hardly anybody went out of business because of the construction.”

rBenson noted, however, that sometimes it’s difficult to know exactly why a business closes.

rrMain Thoroughfare

rWalnut Street has always served as a primary thoroughfare for the city. The road, which connected Rogers with Bentonville, was first named and designated a city street in 1881, according to documents at the Rogers Historical Museum. A downtown section of the street was first paved with bricks in the mid-1920s and work began on U.S. Highway 71 through Rogers in 1930.

rBefore the construction, for motorists heading west, Walnut Street bottlenecked from five lanes to four at Dixieland Road, then from four lanes to three at the intersection of 21st Street. The 21st Street intersection is between a Wal-Mart Supercenter and a Kmart Store where traffic is heavy and motorists frequently clog the center lane trying to turn left.

rThe result was a busy highway where accidents were likely to take place (particularly rear end collisions). Many motorists avoided the area entirely by taking Arkansas Highway 102, New Hope Road or other east-west arteries instead.

rKeith Stephens, a spokesman for the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department, said the widening created four 11-foot travel lanes and one 12-foot center turn lane. Sidewalks will also be constructed alongside the road.