Eastern Corridor Getting Attention

Road Would Connect Arkansas 16 To U.S. 62

By John Gore

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Print item

ROGERS — Development of an “eastern corridor” could ease traffic on some area highways, especially U.S. 71B.

A five-lane eastern corridor — stretching from Arkansas 16 in Fayetteville to U.S. 62 in Rogers — has been penciled in on the regional planning map for more than a decade.

Two things could spur the project: Rogers officials are likely to add the corridor to their master street plan in 2010; and Highway Commissioner Dick Trammel has made the project a priority.

Trammel said he has the rest of his tenure on the commission — a little more than nine years — to see the project became asphalt on the ground instead of a dotted line on a map.

The proposed roadway would probably follow existing Arkansas 265 to Lowell.

“That to me is the least expensive and quickest way we could have another north-south corridor,” Trammel said.

Building a five-lane corridor east of U.S. 71B would be a real opportunity to improve traffic flow, Trammel added.

Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department engineers are working on a feasibility study on the eastern corridor. Trammel said the first phase of the report could be ready next year.

“We need to get traffic off of I-540 and off Highway 71. This is the least expensive and most rapid way we can do that,” he said.

Randy Ort, department spokesman, said the corridor is on the state’s planning map, but there is no timeline established to build the road.

“Mr. Trammel may have some other ideas I’m not aware of, but first we have to look at where to build it. At this time, the eastern corridor is in what I would call the conceptual stage,” Ort said. “Any north-south roadway we could build would be beneficial to area motorists.”

Jeff Hawkins, executive director of the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning, agrees the corridor would provide another needed north-south route, but said not everyone agrees on the priority level.

“From Fayetteville to Bella Vista every town has a different set of priorities, based on their particular needs,” Hawkins said. “I think the eastern corridor is one of the top priorities, each city may have more than one top priority.”

A case in point is Rogers Mayor Steve Womack. He supports the idea of an eastern corridor, but has other projects in his city he would rather see.

The Highway Department removed from the 2010-13 state transportation plan three such projects submitted by Rogers for funding. Womack objected to the action.

Before an eastern corridor is tackled, Rogers officials want the intersections at Walnut Street and 46th Street and at Second Street and Hudson Road improved as well as a center turn lane added between Eighth Street and Dixieland Road. Walnut Street becomes U.S. 71B as it turns west off Eighth Street.

“We’re not against the eastern corridor, but there are other more pressing issues for the safety of motorists we need now,” Womack said.

The Rogers Planning and Transportation Department staff, however, has pinpointed a tentative route for the section of the corridor passing through the city. A public meeting is scheduled for February to give residents a chance to comment on the route before it’s place on the master street plan.

The proposal has Arkansas 265 extending through Lowell, unincorporated areas of Benton County then entering Rogers around the Pleasant Grove Road-First Street intersection.

A five-lane section of First Street between Pleasant Grove and Olrich Street — recently improved as part of the 2003 street bond package — could serve as part of the corridor.

A section stretching from Oak Street, designed to turn east to miss developed areas then north to cross Walnut and Locust streets, would have to be built. Another section of the route would parallel or use a section of “D” Street, before swinging northwest to connect with U.S. 62 east of Second Street. That section would also have to be built to complete the corridor through Rogers.

Steve Glass, planning and transportation director for Rogers, said it is important a route be placed on the plan, even if it is only a tentative route.

“We need to have a route on the master street plan to alert developers. If it’s on the master plan, developers know where the eastern corridor or any other future street is likely to go and can plan accordingly,” he said.

Comments

To report abuse or misuse of this area please hit the "Suggest Removal" link in the comment to alert our online managers. Please read our comment policy.

Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.