City and state transportation officials said the Arkansas 102 widening project from South Walton Boulevard to Greenhouse Road remains on schedule. But on schedule or not, the construction is creating quite a nuisance for at least one business owner.
Matthew Amato owns Beef ‘O’ Brady’s in Bentonville. For the past 17 months, as Amato has started his business at 2500 S.W. 14th St. (also known as Arkansas 102), drawing in customers has been a challenge.
“It’s created a big change,” Amato said, pointing to outside the front of his restaurant to the road improvements taking place. “We’re dealing with a lot every day. They’re switching the sides of the road being worked on, and to me, it doesn’t seem like they’re working fast enough.”
With his business on the corner of 14th Street and Tunbridge Drive, Amato is in the middle of the $9.3 million project that will widen the stretch of Arkansas 102 from two to fi ve lanes.
“I’m very excited and love that the road will be improved,” Amato said. “But to me they just don’t seem that organized. I mean I even stopped in my truck one day and picked up a cone that was in the middle of the road. So to me it’s just the way they’re going about doing the work.”
Despite Amato’s frustrations, the project is not behind schedule. According to the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department and city of Bentonville personnel, the construction could be completed ahead of the scheduled summer of 2011 completion date if everything goes as planned.
“The Highway Department is the one administering the project, so they’ve got all the figures on the project,” said Mike Churchwell, city transportation director.
“But I think they’re doing pretty well. Those guys really get after it out there. In fact, I believe they could be done early if the weather cooperates.”
The project was listed as “45 percent” complete in the city newsletter released in October, and Churchwell said that estimate has gone up in the past two months. Funded by both the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department and by the city of Bentonville’s street bond, with both splitting the costs down the middle, work on the 2.3-mile stretch began in November 2008.
Randy Ort, an Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department spokesman, understands how this type of construction can affect local businesses. But with a major project like the one on Arkansas 102, Ort said those affected must realize the work will take some time.
“Patience,” Ort said. “I wish I had a better answer, but it really takes patience. Obviously, the best thing would be to shut down the roads and allow the maintenance crews to work like that, but that’s not feasible. Especially in such a developed area like the one we’re speaking of.
“I can understand the frustration of the businesses. But there’s a lot of factors that go into this type of work.”
Amato wondered why the construction crews working on the 102 project weren’t focusing more of their hours in the evening time, when traffic was at a minimum. But as Ort pointed out, working night shifts lead to higher costs that some aren’t willing or able to aff ord.
“What you have to remember is when they work at night, costs go up,” Ort said. “Because that’s more they have to pay their workers. And when they have to pay their workers more, that can leads to more expensive bids.”
Although the construction work has aff ected businesses along Arkansas 102, not everyone is unhappy with the job being done. Will Worley is the owner of Pawn USA and Audio, 2310 S.W. 14th St. Worley believes the road project might have affected some of his business sales, and said he doesn’t believe the road crews are falling behind.
“It has affected us a little bit, but I think they’re doing a good job,” Worley said. “They’ve been at it for over a year and now that they’ve got the two lanes open here in front of our business, that has helped a lot.”