Road crews have completed 78 percent of a project to widen nearly 5 miles of U.S. 412 from two to four lanes from Hindsville to Huntsville.
When it’s completed, traffic will flow on four lanes from Springdale to the west side of Huntsville, said Steve Lawrence, district engineer for the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department’s Harrison office.
Workers for Crossland Construction on Wednesday shifted two-way traffic to what will be two eastbound lanes of the expanded roadway, said Robbie Moore, assistant resident engineer in the department’s Harrison office. The shift allows for the closure of what will be the two westbound lanes of the highway while crews fill in gaps along the roadway.
Widening U.S. 412 presented challenges for construction crews because the new alignment crossed the old roadway in four places, Lawrence said.
“That left a lot of those short segments the contractor couldn’t build,” Lawrence said.
When all the work is complete on the westbound lanes, all four lanes of the divided roadway will be opened to traffic, Moore said. The final step involves laying 2 inches of asphalt over the eastbound lanes, which will require workers temporarily to close one lane at a time.
The old U.S. 412 from Hindsville to Huntsville was one of the most dangerous portions of the east-west roadway that stretches roughly from Siloam Springs to Paragould, Lawrence said.
“It’s much better alignment,” Lawrence said. “It’s going to be a much safer route.”
The $23 million project to widen U.S. 412 between Hindsville and Huntsville began in November 2010 under a contract with Crossland Construction, according to the department. The project deadline is Aug. 31.
About 8,400 vehicles travel on that section of U.S. 412 each day.
Huntsville Mayor Kevin Hatfield expects the new roadway to shorten the drive time between Huntsville, and Springdale and Fayetteville, as well as to Interstate 540, he said.
“It’s going to make Madison County a more desirable place to come and live,” he said. “We’re just expecting in the years to follow some economic prosperity for the area.”Huntsville officials spent more than a year working to annex property along U.S. 412 in anticipation of the finished four-lane roadway. The City Council in March approved eight petitions for the voluntary annexation of more than 900 acres into the city limits in anticipation of economic development that could result from the wider road.
Officials also are working to extend water and sewer lines to the annexed property.
“This is the most exciting thing to happen to Huntsville in years,” Hatfield said.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7 on 05/30/2013