FAYETTEVILLE -- As work wraps up on a 0.7-mile stretch of Garland Avenue, construction on another section of Arkansas 112 through the university has begun.

Sweetser Construction workers began widening Garland Avenue, north of North Street, in February 2013. The project includes an additional lane of traffic in each direction, new stoplights at Deane, Holly and Sycamore streets, sidewalks, curb and gutter and a tree-lined median. Work is expected to be finished by the time school starts in August.

"They've been working really hard to accomplish that," Chris Brown, city engineer, said Thursday.

The roughly $5.2 million project is being paid for through the city's $65.9 million Transportation Improvement Bond Program voters approved in 2006. It also includes Federal-Aid Highway Program money and a match from the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department.

The construction will tie into improvements made about 10 years ago on Garland south of North Street through the University of Arkansas to Maple Street.

The plan is to make the state highway four lanes through campus -- west down Maple to Reynolds Razorback Stadium, and south on Razorback Road to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

Construction will take several years to complete.

"The work through the university is obviously going to be challenging with pedestrian traffic and all of that," Brown said. "Just like any construction project, you have to go through a little bit of pain to get to the other side. But in the end, the sidewalks and pedestrian connections are going to be a big improvement in that area."

Sweetser, also the contractor on Razorback Road, began widening work between King Boulevard and Leroy Pond Drive last month. The roughly $2.8 million project is expected to be completed in early 2015.

Mike Johnson, UA associate vice chancellor for facilities, explained the work is the first part of a three-phase project.

Next up is a stretch of Maple Street between Garland Avenue and Razorback Road, which runs along the parking lot north of the football stadium. Johnson said Maple Street construction is estimated to cost about $3 million and could be complete by the end of 2015. It includes a traffic signal replacing the four-way stop at Razorback and Maple.

Phase III, which has yet to be funded, will run along the west side of Razorback Stadium from Maple Street to Leroy Pond Drive. Johnson said it's expected to cost about $6 million.

The entire corridor, from Garland to King Boulevard, will generally include four travel lanes and sidewalks separated from both sides of the street by 10 feet of green space with trees.

Eighty percent of construction is being paid for using federal money funneled through the state Highway Department. A 20 percent local match is being shared by the city and university, Brown said.

The city and state don't have immediate plans to improve Garland Avenue north past Agri Park to Interstate 49.

"From Melmar (Street) north, it really functions pretty well," Brown said.

The city has sought to include a roughly half-mile stretch of Garland Avenue between Sam's Club and Van Asche Drive in the Highway Department's 2016-19 Surface Transportation Program.

"It's likely over the next four to five years that that widening will occur," Brown said.

The Garland Avenue interchange on I-49 is also being redesigned. The bridge over the interstate likely will be widened to four or five lanes. Interstate 49 is being widened between Porter Road and the Garland exit. Randy Ort, Highway Department spokesman, said the project is expected to cost about $55 million and begin in mid-2015. It's part of 26 miles of interstate improvements between King Boulevard in Fayetteville and East Central Avenue in Bentonville.

The work along the Arkansas 112 corridor in Fayetteville is intended to improve access to the University of Arkansas -- both from the Garland interchange and the Razorback Road/Cato Springs Road exit on I-49.

"Over the years, our primary entrances have shifted from Maple Street, Lafayette Street and Dickson Street from old (U.S.) 71 to coming from the north and south via the new Interstate 49," Johnson said.

Brown said the entire Arkansas 112 corridor, which runs from southwest Fayetteville to Bentonville, will one day be similar to Arkansas 265 on the east side of the interstate.

"It's sort of a west-side arterial that will link up all the cities and hook up local traffic that's trying to get from one city to the other, rather than from one end (of the interstate) to the other," he added.