FORT SMITH — Fort Smith residents will see sidewalks repaired and built 10 times faster than the current rate by 2014, city street department Director Greg Riley said.
Fort Smith directors budgeted $917,900 next year for sidewalk construction that will enable the street department to put together two five-person crews and buy $255,000 worth of equipment, mostly vehicles, for the crews.
A third crew will be addedin 2014 to complete the conversion of sidewalk construction and repair to the city rather than contracting out the work, Riley said.
Crews hired by the city have been able to do only about 1 to 1 1/2 miles of sidewalk each year, Riley said. The three city crews, which will be assigned solely to sidewalks, are expected to repair or build about 10 miles of sidewalks each year.
The street department has already hired one crew that has been working on sidewalks for the past six months,Riley said.
A memorandum in the 2013 budget stated the new crews initially will concentrate on sidewalk repairs downtown and those around Northside High School, Darby Junior High School and Tilles, Howard and Parker elementary schools. All those schools are on the city’s north side, which is the oldest part of the city and has the oldest sidewalks.
The Fort Smith School District supports whatever the city can do to improve side-walks near schools, said Alan Love, director of building and grounds for the district.
Love, who has been in his position for 18 months, has been concentrating on other school projects and has not assessed the sidewalk needs of the district’s 19 elementary schools, he said.
The city’s elementary schools are neighborhood schools and many students walk to school, Love said. Sidewalks keep students out of the streets and safe from traffic, he said.
Sidewalks are especially important in giving disabled students a safe path to school, Love said.
The city is moving sidewalk construction in-house for several reasons, Riley said. The city had been able to devote only about $200,000 annually to sidewalks, funded by a portion of building permit fees. Large construction companies weren’t interested in such small projects, he said.
Also, contracting out the work meant the city had to bid the projects and provide engineering services, which added to the cost, he said. Doing the work in-house will eliminate the need for the bidding and engineering expenses.
The city will get about $1.5million annually beginning in 2014 from the new half-percent state sales tax for street and highways that Arkansas voters approved Nov. 6. Riley said most of Fort Smith’s share - plus the portion of building permit fees - will go to the sidewalk work.
According to a city budget memorandum, Fort Smith will get the first revenue from the sales tax beginning July 1. The partial year allocation will total about $640,000.
The sidewalk construction budget also will get $160,000 next year in building permit fees and a transfer of $367,000 that had built up in the fund, according to the budget memo.
The three sidewalk crews will have plenty of work, Riley said. The city has 229 miles of sidewalks, including 34 miles that are on the list for repair. The city also has requests for 46 miles of new sidewalks.
The crews will focus on repairing existing sidewalks at first, Riley said. The city has a rating system to prioritize sidewalk repairs, he said. Precedence is given to sidewalks around nursing homes and places frequented by children such as schools, parks and Boys and Girls Clubs.
The city will also emphasize fixing sidewalks along thoroughfares, then work into neighborhoods with less foot traffic, Riley said.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7 on 12/26/2012