Thursday, February 27, 2014
Regional planners formally picked five projects Wednesday that will receive the remaining $2.9 million in 2014 federal highway money the region is getting this year.
The region gets about $6.6 million a year in federal Surface Transportation Program money to spend on regionally significant projects. Planners approved spending $3.7 million on five projects in October.
At A Glance
Bella Vista Bypass
The Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department opened bids Wednesday for the next, six-mile section of the Bella Vista Bypass.
Kolb Grading, of Weldon Spring, Mo., is the apparent low bidder at $52.7 million. Kolb is also the prime contractor on the section from Arkansas 72 north to Benton County Road 34 that is under construction.
The job will extend the new bypass about six miles from Arkansas 72 southeast of Hiwasse to Walton Boulevard in Bentonville. When completed, the new road will open from Walton Boulevard to Benton County Road 34 on the west side of Bella Vista.
The bid is the first project in the voter-approved Connecting Arkansas Program, according to highway officials.
“Northwest Arkansas is proud and excited that the first CAP job is another section of the Bella Vista Bypass,” Arkansas Highway Commissioner Dick Trammel, of Rogers, said in a Highway Department news release. “This is such an important project for our part of the state. The CAP is going to allow us to finish the bypass which will greatly ease the traffic flow through Bella Vista.”
The 19-mile bypass will extend to Interstate 49 at Pineville, Mo. It will be part of the eventual route of I-49, a proposed Interstate from Canada to New Orleans. Two more contracts, both funded under the CAP, will be needed to complete the initial two lanes of what will ultimately be a four-lane bypass.
Source: Staff Report
"The goal here today is to zero-out the $2.9 million in STP-A funds we have available this year and then race to get the the projects obligated by Sept. 30," said Tim Conklin, a planner with the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission.
The Northwest Arkansas metro area became eligible for the money when the urban population surpassed 200,000. The money is administered by the Planning Commission, serving as the Metropolitan Planning Organization, which is made of representatives from Benton and Washington counties and each city in the counties.
Members of the Technical Advisory Committee chose four projects, worth more than $2.2 million, and recommended an estimated $697,000 in remaining money go to the extension of Arkansas 265 between Randal Wobbe Road in Springdale and Arkansas 264 in Bethel Heights.
The projects selected are:
• Elm Springs Road interchange improvements in Springdale. The project is to widen the interchange with a fifth lane and additional left turn lanes on the bridge and an eight-foot sidewalk. Planners agreed to spend $1.4 million in STP money on the project with Springdale providing a $370,000 match. The Highway Department will spend $4.2 million on the project. About 26,000 cars a day use the interchange.
• Springdale and Johnson 56th Street extension. The project is to improve 56th between the Don Tyson Parkway and Johnson Mill Boulevard to create a north-south corridor parallel to Interstate 540. Planners agreed to spend $400,000 on the project with Springdale providing a $50,000 match and Johnson providing a $30,000 match. About 3,000 cars a day travel the road.
• Walton Boulevard and Tiger Boulevard intersection improvement in Bentonville. The project is to increase the intersection's capacity. Planners agreed to spend $112,000 on design, environmental studies and preliminary utility relocation. Bentonville will provide a $140,000 match. About 6,100 cars a day use the intersection.
• Bella Vista Way intersection study. Bella Vista requested a complete traffic study of five intersections between Sunset Drive and the Missouri line. Planners agreed is spend $212,000 on the study with Bella Vista providing a $53,000 match. The Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department is being asked to manage the study. The south end of the area gets about 46,000 cars a day while the area near the state line has about 21,000 cars a day.
• The Arkansas 265 corridor is expected to be the primary north-south corridor on the east side of the metro area.
The project was originally proposed as a cost-sharing project between the Highway Department and Springdale, but when the route was chosen, most of it ended up being in Bethel Heights. Springdale could not honor the initial agreement because it is not within the city limits and Bethel Heights can't afford the improvements. State Highway and Transportation Department officials asked regional planners if they could step in and take over cost-sharing on the project.
NW News on 02/27/2014