Officials Review Road, Trail Work

Plenty of Projects on Tap in 2013, Beyond

— Lioneld Jordan and city staff reviewed several upcoming road and trail projects during the mayor's final town hall meeting of the year Monday at the Boys & Girls Club of Fayetteville.

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Streets, Trails

For more information on the city's long-range plans for streets and trails, go to accessfayetteville.….

City Engineer Chris Brown said a new traffic roundabout in front of Washington Regional Medical Center is two to three months away from completion. Drives are already able to access one lane of the new roundabout, which will connect cars on the Fulbright Expressway to Futrall Drive, North Hills Boulevard and Gregg Avenue. It might be years away, but city officials have their sites set on a second roundabout - on Wedington Drive just went of the interchange with Interstate 540. The roundabout, if permitted by the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department, would remove two traffic lights on the bridge over I-540. Brown said a roundabout there would greatly improve traffic flow west of the interstate.

Another major project, set to being in early 2013, is a "flyover" bridge that will connect northbound College Avenue to westbound lanes of traffic on the Fulbright Expressway and Mall Avenue and Shiloh Drive.

Jordan said the flyover and roughly 1-mile extension to Van Asche Drive will give people two new ways to access the shopping area near the Northwest Arkansas Mall. Both projects are part of a $65.9 million bond program Fayetteville voters approved in 2006.

Extensions to Van Asche and Rupple Road - from a spot near the Boys & Girls Club south to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard - are expection to being in 2014.

Lots of trail construction is on tap next year, too.

"2013 is probably going to be our biggest year in terms of the trails program," Brown said.

He said he expected city crews to complete a 5.5 mile paved loop around Lake Fayetteville by this spring. The trail, until now, has turned into a dirt path on the south side of Lake Fayetteville between Veterans Memorial Park and an area near the Botanical Garden of the Ozarks.

Construction on a half-mile extension to the Frisco Trail is set to begin in 2013. The new section of trail will run under Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to Walker Park.

Construction has already begun on the Clear Creek Trail, which will connect the loop around Lake Fayetteville to the Scull Creek and Mud Creek trails southwest of the Northwest Arkansas Mall.

Work could also start next year on the Town Branch Trail, a half-mile connection between South School Avenue and Greathouse Park, as well as the Tsa La Gi Trail, which will connect several large apartment complexes being built south of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

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