City Plans Paving Program to Blacktop Annexed Streets

A driver travels on Puppy Creek Road Friday as it turns from a dirt road to a paved road in Springdale. The city plans to pave all remaining dirt roads in city limits including a stretch that heads north to Lowell.
A driver travels on Puppy Creek Road Friday as it turns from a dirt road to a paved road in Springdale. The city plans to pave all remaining dirt roads in city limits including a stretch that heads north to Lowell.

Dirt roads in Springdale will be a thing of the past if the City Council approves spending $1.5 million for paving.

At A Glance

Springdale Summer Street Paving Program

Street Section to be Paved Estimated Cost

-Puppy Creek Road End of pavement to Lowell city limits $144,672

-Spring Creek Road Puppy Creek Road to Brown Road $52,619

-Ladelle Road Lowell city limits to end of road $21,868

-South Zion Road Brown Road to Wagon Wheel Road $105,186

-Sharp Springs Road Zion Road to Brown Road $158,253

-Zigler Lane Sunset Ridge Circle to Brown Road $73,674

-East Brown Road Spring Creek Road to Ford Lane $453,589

-Gibbs Road Summers Road to Arkansas 112 $76,729

-Summers Road Gibbs Road to end of street $73,731

-Yeager Road Gibbs Road to end of street $14,099

-New Hope Road Arkansas 112 to Johnson city limits $51,557

-Greathouse Springs Road Arkansas 112 to Johnson city limits $31,399

-Wildwood Lane Wagon Wheel Road to end $69,056

-Falcon Road White Road to 40th Street $78,964

-Davis Avenue Sherman Street to North Pleasant Street $16,498

Source: City Of Springdale

The council will consider paving 8.5 miles of city streets at its 6 p.m. Tuesday meeting. Many of those dirt roads became part of the city system in a July 2011 annexation of about 2,500 acres. Other streets to be paved are part of an October 2010 annexation of about 1,000 acres.

Mayor Doug Sprouse said he told property owners in the annexed areas the city would pave their streets.

“I told them we were already committed on our paving program for the summer of 2012,” Sprouse said. “I’m glad it looks like we will be able to get to them this summer. We try to do it within two years (of annexation), and it’s been that for some of them.”

The City Council Street and Capital Improvement Program Committee sent the paving proposal to the full council with a recommendation for approval. The proposal calls for the paving to be paid with money from the capital improvement fund.

“That’s the quickest way we can get more services to them,” said Alderman Mike Overton. “It’s easy to see the improvement with paving.”

The annexed areas came into Springdale by a vote of the council. State law allows an unincorporated island surrounded by a city or cities to be annexed into the town that has the longest border with the island.

The annexed areas receive Springdale police and fire protection. Trash service is provided through a city contract with Waste Management.

The program will pave the last public dirt roads in the city, said Sam Goade, city director of public works. There are some private roads in the city that are dirt. Private roads have blue street signs, Goade said, with green signs on public streets.

The cost of most paving projects comes from the city’s street fund. The state sends fuel tax money to cities based on population, Goade said. That money goes to the street fund and can only be used for street-related expenses, he said.

The street fund has about $488,000 in unreserved money, Goade said. That is the minimum needed for the account to maintain cash flow, he said.

Expenses from the fund include large payments made when construction is completed, usually in the summer. Most road construction, especially paving, is done in the summer, Goade said. The difference in timing for revenues and expenses can cause the total in the street fund to fluctuate, he said.

The city’s street fund revenues will increase by about $1.2 million per year because voters approved a statewide half-cent sales tax in November, Goade said. That money will probably not start coming in until the end of this year, Sprouse said.

Instead of waiting until more street money is available, Sprouse decided to ask the council to pay for the paving from the improvement fund.

The improvement fund has about $14 million in unreserved money, Sprouse said.

Billy Wayne Rizley, who lives on unpaved East Brown Road, said he will be happy to see the roads paved. Rizley said he has lived on Brown for 40 years, many times driving to and from his house in a cloud of dust.

“It will be nice to get to drive a clean vehicle,” he said.

Feed trucks going to chicken houses in the area are tough on dirt roads, said Donnie McDonald, a neighbor of Rizley. Paving would cut down on rough roads, even if it allowed the trucks to continue to speed, McDonald said.

Better roads would allow police and fire vehicles to respond faster, he said.

“We do see a police car every once in a while,” McDonald said. “We might see them more often with paved roads.”

Officials plan to bid the work in one contract, Goade said. Street department employees will be finishing improvements Hylton Road between Don Tyson Parkway and Robinson Avenue this summer, he said. The new junior high school scheduled to open this fall is located on Hylton.

Plans call for the crews to also rebuild streets in the Greenbrier Estates subdivision this summer, Goade said. The subdivision is located on Arkansas 112, north of Elm Springs.

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