Fayetteville Residents Review Interchange Designs

More Lanes, Ramps, Medians Planned Along Wedington Drive, MLK Jr. Boulevard...

STAFF PHOTO Michael Woods w @NWAMICHAELW Daniel Byram, Arkansas Highway Department engineer, talks Thursday with Fayetteville’s Margaret Holcomb about proposed improvement for the Wedington Drive and Interstate 540 interchange during a public meeting at Asbell Elementary School. The public was invited to give feedback to design concepts for Interstate 540 interchanges at Wedington Drive and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.
STAFF PHOTO Michael Woods w @NWAMICHAELW Daniel Byram, Arkansas Highway Department engineer, talks Thursday with Fayetteville’s Margaret Holcomb about proposed improvement for the Wedington Drive and Interstate 540 interchange during a public meeting at Asbell Elementary School. The public was invited to give feedback to design concepts for Interstate 540 interchanges at Wedington Drive and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

FAYETTEVILLE -- Plans for the Wedington Drive and Martin Luther King Jr. interchanges on Interstate 540 show more lanes, new on-ramps and raised medians that could keep traffic moving along two of the city's busiest streets.

About 125 residents reviewed the plans Thursday during an open house at Asbell Elementary School.

At A Glance

Public Input

Residents who didn’t make it to Thursday’s open house can review plans for the Wedington Drive and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard interchanges online at arkansashighways.com. The public comment period will last for 15 days. “Input from the public is critical for something like this,” said Danny Straessle of the Highway Department.

Source: Staff Report

According to 2012 traffic counts from the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department, 38,000 people drive Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard west of the interstate daily. Nearly 34,000 cars pass Betty Jo Drive on Wedington Drive.

Alderman Mark Kinion earlier this week called the Wedington interchange "terrifying."

"Going from there to Salem is where it is sheer havoc," Kinion said.

Both the Wedington and King Boulevard interchanges could feature on-ramps looping eastbound drivers around to northbound I-540.

The idea is to prevent left turns across traffic.

If the Highway Department goes through with its plans, the stoplight on Wedington where eastbound drivers turn left to I-540 will be removed.

Other on- and off-ramps will generally stay the same, although several at both Wedington and King Boulevard will be realigned.

The Wedington bridge will have eight lanes at its widest point. A new lane and sidewalks will be added to Wedington on the west side of the interstate.

The interchange will not feature a roundabout, as had been envisioned by Wedington Corridor Plan City Council members.

"We modeled it and decided there wasn't enough right of way to accommodate a roundabout," said Danny Straessle, a spokesman for the Highway Department.

The King Boulevard interchange could also have eight lanes under I-540.

Like Wedington, a new lane and sidewalks will be added west of the interstate.

Perhaps the biggest changes will be raised medians -- from Finger Road to Hollywood Avenue on King Boulevard and from Futrall Drive to Salem Road on Wedington.

The medians would replace center turn lanes and restrict left turns, something Victor Parkerson, who lives south of Wedington off Salem Road, said is needed.

"The divider will make it safer," Parkerson said. "There are a lot of wrecks in the area because of the center lane."

Drivers traveling east on Wedington who want to get to the Harps grocery store or Sonic Drive-In will have to make a left turn at Salem or a U-turn at Shiloh Drive to get back to businesses on the north side of the street.

Westbound traffic on King Boulevard won't be able to turn left into the shopping center where the Electric Cowboy, Burrito Loco and Taiwan Chinese Restaurant are located.

Ed Faust, who works in the shopping center at Tyson Foods, said he's OK with that.

"It's suicide trying to make a left turn out of there," Faust said.

He said he usually takes a back way along Hollywood Avenue to get to northbound I-540.

City officials, in their comments to the Highway Department, agreed with the principle of a median on Wedington and King Boulevard. City Engineer Chris Brown said Thursday, they'd like the state to consider at least one median break -- and traffic signal -- at Tahoe Place, where an entrance to the Harps parking lot is located.

City officials would also like to see better pedestrian connectivity at the interchanges.

While Highway Department plans show new sidewalks, bike lanes would be placed on the street. That means a cyclist brave enough to enter either interchange traveling east could have a car on either side of him.

Brown said a "side path" could be built on the north side of the Wedington bridge with a similar trail on the north side of King Boulevard.

"Our concern with those types of interchanges and all number of lanes and right turn lanes -- we're afraid the bike lanes won't be utilized much," Brown said.

The pedestrian paths would give west Fayetteville residents a link to the city trail system. The King Boulevard connection is crucial for extending a trail to the planned regional park, Brown said.

He said he thought the paths could be incorporated into the Highway Department's proposed cross-sections.

"I feel like we're going to able to get something worked out," Brown said.

The two interchanges on Wedington Drive and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard are expected to cost nearly $50 million, Straessle said. The projects will be paid for mostly with bonds Arkansas voters approved for highway repair in 2011.

Seven other interchanges are set to be improved in Washington and Benton counties. They are Greathouse Springs Road, Don Tyson Parkway, Elm Springs Road, Wagon Wheel Road, West Monroe Avenue, Southeast Walton Boulevard and Southeast 14th Street.

Also, I-540 is being widened to six -- and even eight -- lanes for a 26-mile stretch between King Boulevard and East Central Avenue in Bentonville.

Construction on the two Fayetteville interchanges is expected to begin in the next two years. The projects will take roughly two years to complete, Straessle said.

He said the Wedington bridge will remain open during construction -- just with fewer lanes, as sections of the bridge are replaced.

NW News on 03/21/2014

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