Flyover Bridge Bids Opened

Here's an image that might help with your understanding of the flyover project. North College on ramp that will connect to Fulbright Expressway before the Joyce and College intersection

Here's an image that might help with your understanding of the flyover project. North College on ramp that will connect to Fulbright Expressway before the Joyce and College intersection

Saturday, November 3, 2012

— Construction is set to begin early next year on a long-awaited flyover bridge that will connect northbound College Avenue to the Fulbright Expressway and two streets south of the Northwest Arkansas Mall.

The lowest of five bids opened Friday was $6.3 million from Emery Sapp and Sons of Columbia, Mo.

At A Glance

Busy Interchanges

The busiest interchange in Washington County is Interstate 540 and Sunset Avenue in Springdale with about 67,000 cars a day on I-540 and 40,000 on Sunset Avenue. In Benton County, the busiest is I-540 and Walnut Street-Walton Boulevard on the Rogers-Bentonville line, with 72,000 cars a day on I-540 and 33,500 on Walnut-Walton. The busiest interchange in the state is I-430 and I-630 interchange in west Little Rock.

Sources: Arkansas Highway And Transportation Department, Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission, City Of Fayetteville

The project will require a new left lane on northbound College Avenue south of Joyce Boulevard. The lane will lead to a bridge over southbound traffic on College Avenue. The bridge will branch off to westbound traffic on Fulbright Expressway and to Mall Avenue and Shiloh Drive near the Olive Garden and Logan’s Roadhouse. A traffic signal will be added at the Mall Avenue/Shiloh Drive curve.

Chris Brown, city engineer, said the project should reduce congestion at Joyce Boulevard and Shiloh Drive and improve access to businesses near the mall.

The intersection of College Avenue and Joyce Boulevard is one of the busiest in Northwest Arkansas, according to city officials and the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department. Daily traffic counts just north of Joyce on College are 39,000 cars a day. College Avenue south of Joyce is estimated to carry about 52,000 cars a day. Joyce itself has 25,000 cars a day west of College and 28,000 cars a day east of College.

Brown said a recent traffic study indicated 25 percent of drivers in the left turn lanes on College at Joyce make a U-turn to get to the Fulbright Expressway.

“While the U-turn is legal, it’s a little bit awkward and it’s inefficient,” Brown said. “That intersection stacks up almost every day. During the weekends and holidays it really stacks up.”

Nickel Potter, store manager of Phat Tire Bike Shop on Mall Avenue, said he was excited for the project to get under way.

“We are a very difficult business district to get to by car from central Fayetteville, because you basically have to take three left turns to get to us,” Potter said. “I think people avoid this section of town, because it’s so inconvenient to get in and out of.”

With the amount of tax revenue businesses near the mall generate, Potter said he was surprised city officials hadn’t addressed access issues in the area sooner.

Brown said the flyover has been talked about for years — if not decades.

“This is a movement that’s been lacking ever since the Fulbright Expressway was constructed,” Brown said.

The flyover is one of three projects associated with the federally funded Fayetteville Expressway Economic Development Corridor. The others are a traffic roundabout being built in front of Washington Regional Medical Center and a one-mile extension to Van Asche Drive that has been designed.

The projects will be paid for with federal money designated in 2005 and a 20 percent city match.

The City Council is expected to officially award a construction contract for the flyover project Nov. 20.

The flyover will take about 18 months to complete.

Web Watch

Conceptual Drawing

Go to the online version of this story at nwaonline.com to see a conceptual drawing of the flyover bridge.