ROGERS -- The first street improvement project on the east side of town is one step closer to becoming a reality.
Aldermen approved Tuesday a $195,000 contract with Garver LLC to oversee construction on Monte Ne Road from New Hope Road to Gum Street.
At A Glance
Council Action
Rogers’ City Council met Tuesday and approved:
• Moving $20,629 from the Animal Shelter reserve for improvement to the cat room at the shelter.
• Accepting a $387,735 Community Development Block Grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
• An amendment to the city code setting penalties for motorists who disregard temporary hazard signs.
• Rezoning 1.13 acres at the northeast corner of Pleasant Grove and Dixieland roads from agricultural to highway commercial.
• Rezoning 2110, 2114, 2118, 2120 and 2202 S. Eighth St. from a mix of agricultural, highway commercial and open display commercial to all open display commercial.
Source: Staff Report
Monte Ne Road improvement is part of a major change of traffic flow on the east side of Rogers. Monte Ne is scheduled to be widened from two lanes to four. The road will connect with a roundabout at the intersection of Oak, First and Arkansas streets. City officials said First Street is likely to be part of the Arkansas 265 corridor connecting East Huntsville Road in Fayetteville with Hudson Road in Rogers.
"These street projects will make a big difference to the east side of the city. The projects will expand the downtown area and hopefully create more development along the improved streets. Monte Ne Road will give people another way to get to a very pretty section of Beaver Lake," said Betsy Reithemeyer, alderwoman.
"All the utilities have been moved and we will be going out for construction bids very soon. If everything goes as planned, construction could start in late August or early September," said Lance Jobe, city civil engineer.
The second phase for Monte Ne Road will run from Gun Street to a roundabout connecting Monte Ne Road, First, Arkansas and Oak streets. City officials also plan to widen First Street from Olrich to the roundabout. Oak Street ends at Second Street. The plan is to build a new section of Oak Street to connect to the roundabout.
"These improvements should provide better access to downtown and the improvements to First Street may become our leg of the eastern corridor that will run from Huntsville Road in Fayetteville to U.S. 62 in Rogers," Mayor Greg Hines said.
The street improvements on the east side are also part of economic development plan for the downtown area.
Gateway Planning, a Dallas based group, was hired earlier this year to devise a plan to revitalize downtown. Some of the goals city officials said they want to achieve is create more living space, such as lofts, more restaurants, shops and walkability.
"If people want to live downtown you need to have places in walking distance to buy shoes, groceries, clothing and restaurants in which to eat. We would also like to create an entertainment district for our residents, whether they live downtown or not," Hines said.
NW News on 07/09/2014