BENTONVILLE — The mayor of Centerton hopes more lanes on Arkansas 102 will mean more tax dollars for his city.
The state Highway and Transportation Department started a widening project on the highway from Greenhouse Road to Main Street on Sept. 13. Mayor Bill Edwards already has started a letter writing campaign reaching out to businesses to encourage them to consider Centerton as home.
The 1.7-mile stretch is mostly all in the Centerton city limits and will include two lanes in each direction with a continuous turning lane down the center, said Steve Lawrence, District 9 highway engineer. Edwards said a traffic study showed between 18,000 and 20,000 vehicles travel that stretch of highway every day.
At A Glance
Who’s Paying For It?
The widening project on Arkansas 102 between Greenhouse Road and Main Street in Centerton is funded through federal, state and local money. Here’s the breakdown:
• Federal money: $13.75 million
• City of Centerton: $2.3 million
• State money: $1.1 million
Source: Arkansas Highway And Transportation Department
The population of Centerton has grown from 2,145 residents in 2000 to 9,515 residents in the 2010 Census. Subdivisions have popped up just past Bentonville’s western border. Those housing enclaves make Centerton ripe for commercial development, Edwards said.
“We have lots of homes, but we don’t have lots of businesses,” Edwards said.
City residents in 2006 approved a bond measure that will help pay for the widening project. Centerton will kick in about $2 million of the $17 million it will cost, Edwards said.
Edward’ hopes that businesses will follow once the infrastructure is in place seem to be coming to fruition. Edwards said the city has received several calls about potential developments, and a Casey’s General Store recently broke ground at the intersection of Arkansas 102 and Main Street.
Matt Amato, owner of Beef O’Brady’s in Bentonville, already has weathered one widening project on Arkansas 102. He opened his restaurant just one month before the state started adding lanes to the highway, also known as Southwest 14th Street in Bentonville, between Walton Boulevard and Greenhouse Road in 2008. The project languished on for almost three years, heaping contractor Jimmy Jones Construction with more than $100,000 in late completion fees. The latest project is set to be finished in May 2014.
Amato said he was glad to see the state choose a different contractor, APAC Construction, for this project.
“I hope it goes a lot faster than the first time around,” Amato said.
Highway Department officials said they are confident it will. APAC has charged the state for 46 working days out of its allotted 210 days, or 22 percent of the contract time, Lawrence said. APAC has completed $1.2 million in work so far, he said.
“They’ve been making pretty good progress,” Lawrence said. “It’s a difficult location to work in with that amount of traffic, but they’re doing a good job. I expect they will complete it in the time we’ve given.”
The contractor will receive $6,000 for each day it finishes early and will be fined $6,000 a day for each day it goes over the contract period. APAC recently completed a project on East Central Avenue in Bentonville about five months ahead of schedule.
Edwards said workers have been considerate of heavy traffic volumes so far, keeping lanes open during peak hours.
“They’re out there early in the morning,” he said. “They wait until a bulk of people go to work and close them for short periods of times. I haven’t noticed any delays.”
Amato believes the improvements will help draw businesses out toward western Bentonville and Centerton.
“Hopefully the new infrastructure will attract more businesses,” he said. “We’ve been pleased to see the growth out here.”