FAYETTEVILLE — A major road project is only weeks away from completion, said Chris Brown, city engineer.
Work to widen Mount Comfort Road from Interstate 540 west to Rupple Road should be completed by mid-December, Brown said.
The first phase of the project from the interstate to the intersection of Futrall Road and Mount Comfort is finished. The final leg of the project from the Futrall intersection to Rupple is seeing progress made every day.
The project is part of a $65.9 million street bond program approved by voters in 2006. The project cost about $10.5 million, Brown said.
Eventually the intersection at Rupple and Mount Comfort will be improved as money becomes available.
The redesign of the intersection will connect Rupple on the north side of Mount Comfort with Rupple on the south side. Rupple has been improved north from Wedington Drive to the edge of The Links apartments. The rest of the Rupple improvement will be done when more money is available.
The city has sold about $35 million in bonds but has to pay off some of the bonds before it can sell more. Brown estimated that will be about 2014.
Meanwhile, trail development continues on the Oak Ridge Trail on the south side of the University of Arkansas, according to Matt Mihalevich, the city’s trail coordinator. The trail starts on Center Street at the Frisco Trail and continues toward campus, ending near Pomfret Hall.
Work on the trail began recently and, weather permitting, should be finished in late February or early March, Mihalevich said.
This is the first trail paid for by a grant from the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department in partnership with the university and city, he said. The $116,000 grant is paying for the trail construction and any cost overages will be shared equally between the city and university, he added.
Once the Oak Ridge trail is completed, work is expected to begin on the UA Farm Trail, starting on the west side of the interstate and coming east across the farm until it connects with the Scull Creek Trail, which is the backbone of Fayetteville’s trail system.
Mihalevich said this has been the most requested trail because it provides access west of the interstate to the trail system on the east side of the interstate.
The two-mile trail is projected to cost $800,000. Construction will probably begin in early spring next year.