Trammel talks roads to Fayetteville Rotarians

FAYETTEVILLE — Arkansas State Highway Commissioner Dick Trammel found the perfect audience Thursday ready to hear the latest information involving state highways and road improvements.

Speaking to the Fayetteville Downtown Rotary Club, Trammel was his usual peppy self in explaining the ways the Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department is putting money back into state roads - and most importantly to the audience Thursday, how that money is being spent in Northwest Arkansas in particular.

"I'm going to be a cheerleader for the 15 counties I'm here talking about," Trammel said. "And for the other counties, I'm going to be the pompom girl."

Since being appointed in January by Gov. Mike Beebe as state highway commissioner for Districts 4 and 9 in northand northwest Arkansas, Trammel said his main goal has been to provide the best roads possible for his districts, while also trying to find the funding to make road projects possible.

Trammel told the Rotary Club that money is spread throughout the state on highway improvements, but getting enough money for all the improvements needed is almost impossible.

"Arkansas ranks 12th in the nation in state highway miles with 16,438 miles," Trammel said. "But we only rank 41st in funding."

Even with a constant battle to find enough funding, Trammel said the state commission is hard at work putting the money it has back into the local area. And to show just how much is being done to improve Northwest Arkansas roads, Trammel and District 4 engineer Joe Shipman used a detailed presentation to explain each major project currently under way.

One of those major projects mentioned by Shipman was the U.S. 62 widening project. Completed from the Illinois River to Arkansas 170 just east of Prairie Grove, the widening is now a completed project.

Other local and major works currently under way are improvements along Interstate 540, including Wedington Drive, Porter Road and Garland Avenue in Fayetteville. And still down the road, Trammel said even bigger projects are still in the works for Northwest Arkansas, including the Springdale Bypass, the Bella Vista Bypass and the addition of a cable median barrier on I-540 from Fayetteville to Rogers.

"Our Rotarians and our city leaders in this room today make a big difference. They're decision makers," Trammel said. "So the opportunity to come here and speak today and explain who we are at the highway department and how we do all this, it's very important to us."