Transportation Steers Panel Discussion At Bentonville/Bella Vista Chamber Of Commerce Business Matters Breakfast

BENTONVILLE -- Traffic congestion is a byproduct of the employment opportunities, great education systems and quality of life in Northwest Arkansas, Mayor Bob McCaslin said Friday.

"I don't complain about traffic," he said. "I say it's a good barometer of our prosperity."

At A Glance

Business Matters Breakfast

The Bentonville/Bella Vista Chamber of Commerce holds Business Matters Breakfast once a quarter. The next event will be held in July and focus on education.

Source: Staff Report

McCaslin was one of five panelists who spoke about regional transportation at the Bentonville/Bella Vista Chamber of Commerce Business Matters Breakfast at Avondale Chapel. Dick Trammel, Arkansas Highway Commissioner, was the moderator.

McCaslin highlighted recent, current and future street projects in Bentonville. He said city officials were given the go-ahead to begin right of way acquisition for the Eighth Street Improvement Project.

It will widen Eighth Street from two to five lanes from South Walton Boulevard to Interstate 540. It will include an interchange near NorthWest Arkansas Community College.

Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., earmarked $35 million for the project in 2005. City officials agreed to meet a 20 percent match. The project will cost about $53 million, according to McCaslin. The remaining money will be obtained through a three-way partnership between the state, city and Walmart, he said.

"It will improve what is today a huge challenge out near the campus," McCaslin said. "It is a huge project."

Steve Lawrence, with Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department, gave a quick overview of projects in the region that the state is involved in.

One is a partnership with Bentonville that will widen Southwest Airport Regional Boulevard to five lanes to Shell Road. The project is scheduled for this year, he said.

Lawrence explained the project to extend the Bella Vista bypass from County Road 34 to the Missouri state line has been postponed because Missouri doesn't have the money to build its section of highway that will connect to it at the state line.

Instead, a roundabout will be built as an interim fix, Lawrence said.

"It's going to provide connectivity to where users can get to the Bella Vista bypass," he said.

Bob Clinard, Benton County judge, said county officials are working on how to create alternate routes into Bentonville from the north.

There are talks about paving roads like Pumpkin Hollow Road, he said.

The county has about 1,400 miles of road. Half of them are paved. The other half is dirt or gravel. Right now, there's enough money in the budget to pave 28 miles of the 700 miles that are unpaved, according to Clinard.

"It's good that we have these problems because it means that the economy is strong," he said.

The $5 million in storm damage from last year has affected the county's ability to pave more of its roads, Clinard said. The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the state will reimburse 87.5 percent of that, but the county still needs to kick in $700,000 of its own money, he said.

"We're inundated with this storm damage that's taken a year and a half to repair," Clinard said. "At the same time, we could be building new roads and paving new roads. It's a difficult task."

Scott Van Lanningham, executive director and CEO of Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport, elevated the discussion to air transportation.

The largest challenge for the airport is obtaining a low-cost carrier that caters to the business community, he said.

Existing airlines will lower their fares when the airport gets a low-cost carrier, Van Lanningham said.

"When we are successful at attracting a low-cost carrier, it is critical to the long-term success of it that we put people on those airplanes," he said.

Airport officials are in discussions with several low-cost carriers, but there is no time line on when one may come to the regional airport, according to Van Lanningham.

Joel Gardner, executive director of Ozark Regional Transit, spoke about the "budding rural and urban fixed route" bus system in Northwest Arkansas.

Gardner has worked with the more than 20-year-old transportation system for the last 16 months and said improvements are on the way.

"I see a community that is under served by the public transit," he said.

Gardner shared his vision of what the system could look like five to 10 years from now. It should be able to move people from Fayetteville to Bentonville and also offer more local services such as transporting people from offices to downtown areas, he said.

Public transit is for everyone, not just for the disadvantaged, he added.

"It is going to get better," Gardner said, placing an emphasis on the word 'is.'

NW News on 04/19/2014

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