FAYETTEVILLE — City officials want to see some changes to plans for new Interstate 540 interchanges at Wedington Drive and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
The City Council agreed Tuesday to make several recommendations to the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department. The action comes three days before the public comment period for interchange design ends.
At A Glance
Public Comment
Residents have until Friday to comment on plans to overhaul the Interstate 540 interchanges at Wedington Drive and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. To view designs, go to the Fayetteville Engineering Division’s page at accessfayetteville.… and click on “Transportation Projects Conceptual Plans.” A link is included under the heading “Arkansas Highway & Transportation Department Projects.”
The Highway Department asks residents to fill out cards, which can be found at arkansashighways.com. The cards can be emailed to Lynn Malbrough, head of the department’s environmental division, at lynn.malbrough@arka… or mailed to Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department, Environmental Division, P.O. Box 2261, Little Rock, AR 72203.
For more information, call 501-569-2000.
Source: Staff Report
At A Glance
Council Action
Fayetteville’s City Council met Tuesday and approved:
• A $70,000 amendment to a $695,000 contract with Garver engineering for design work associated with a parking deck on the Walton Arts Center property.
• Several changes to the process for approving planned zoning districts.
• Buying 13 vehicles for $295,000.
• A $55,000 contract with the Area Agency on Aging of Northwest Arkansas for recreation services for senior citizens at the Fayetteville Senior Activity and Wellness Center and Hillcrest Towers.
• An agreement with the Fayetteville Advertising and Promotion Commission for hotel, motel and restaurant tax collections and accounting services.
Source: Staff Report
According to a memo from Jeremy Pate, Development Services director, city officials want a 12- to 16-foot-wide bicycle and pedestrian path on the north side of Wedington Drive and King Boulevard. The path would be separated from lanes of traffic by a concrete barrier.
The Highway Department's designs, on the other hand, feature on-street bike lanes. That means cyclists who wanted to cross I-540 headed east on Wedington or King Boulevard would have cars on either side of them.
"We do not support that concept," Pate told members of the City Council's Transportation Committee last week. "For the volume of traffic, it's not a comfortable experience that most people would ever attempt."
Pate said city officials would also like the Highway Department to come up with a better way to preserve access to businesses.
Preliminary designs call for a raised median between Hollywood Avenue and One Mile Road on King Boulevard and between Futrall Drive and Salem Road on Wedington. Drivers wouldn't be able to make left turns out of a Harps grocery store at 1274 N. Colorado Drive or the shopping center where the Electric Cowboy, Burrito Loco and Taiwan Chinese Restaurant are on King Boulevard.
City officials suggested a median break with a traffic signal and crosswalk at Tahoe Circle, making left turns in and out of the Harps parking lot possible. They also recommended the Highway Department continue to allow drivers to turn left into a Walmart parking lot at 2875 W. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
"We do support the use of medians," Pate said. "We simply want them to recognize that there's also a balance with access to properties."
City officials also suggested making Shiloh Drive a two-way street between Wedington Drive and Persimmon Street.
"We want to thank (the Highway Department) for their willingness to do this," said Alan Long, Ward 4 alderman. "But we also want them to take our citizens' input into account."
It's unclear how the City Council's recommendations might affect the nearly $50 million price tag for both interchange projects. The work is mostly being paid for with bonds Arkansas voters approved for highway repair in 2011.
Danny Straessle, a Highway Department spokesman, said during a public input session March 20 construction on the interchanges should begin sometime in the next two years. An exact time will depend on how much designs change as a result of the input process, Straessle said.
NW News on 04/02/2014