SPRINGDALE -- The concrete barriers on Interstate 49 between Johnson and Springdale are coming down next week and the newly widened section soon will be open for traffic, according to Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department officials.
Removing the barriers will require overnight lane closings for most of next week.
Web watch
More information on highway construction in Northwest Arkansas is available at www.ConnectingArkan….
Beginning at 8 p.m. Tuesday, crews will remove temporary concrete barrier rails along I-49 between the Johnson Mill Boulevard interchange and the Don Tyson Parkway overpass. North and south lanes alternately will be reduced to one lane between mile markers 68 and 72 to enable crews to work.
The overnight lane closings will occur nightly starting Tuesday and end Friday morning, weather permitting. Traffic will be controlled using signage and barrels.
North I-49 lane closings will occur from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. South I-49 lane closures will occur between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m.
This stretch of widening is part of a $28.3 million project to widen 4.5 miles of I-49 to three lanes in each direction from Johnson to the Sunset Avenue exit.
All of the interstate from Fayetteville to Bentonville is being widened in stages. I-49 is already three lanes in each direction around Fayetteville from Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to just north of Porter Road.
Further north, the section from Wagon Wheel Road to West Monroe Ave and Arkansas 264 was widened to three lanes. But, starting last week, the third lane was closed because construction began on the piers for an overpass for the U.S. 412 Northern Bypass, according to highway officials.
The section from New Hope Road to U.S. 62 was also widened to three lanes. However, a 2,100-foot portion in the middle of the section is due for improvements to the Exit 85 interchange at West Walnut Street. The parts of the widened highway to the north and south are too short to be safely opened to traffic, so the inside third lane is striped off and not in use, according to highway officials.
The project to widen the interstate from U.S. 412 to Wagon Wheel Road is underway, according to highway officials.
NW News on 04/24/2016