The long-planned widening of the busy Interstate 49 corridor in Northwest Arkansas got another boost Wednesday with the opening of bids on two projects between Fayetteville and Bentonville worth $66.4 million.
Assuming the contracts are awarded once Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department officials review the low bids, work on two projects will begin later this summer and last through early 2019.
They were among 52 road and bridge construction projects worth $164.6 million for which bids were opened Wednesday.
Widening the congested corridor between Fayetteville and Bentonville is one of the priorities in the department's $1.8 billion Connecting Arkansas Program, created in 2012 when voters approved a half-percent statewide sales tax. The tax, which is in place for 10 years, raises about $230 million annually.
"These projects are badly needed," said Jonathan Barnett of Siloam Springs, who has served in the Legislature and on the state Highway Commission.
About 70 percent of the revenue from the half-percent sales tax goes to the Highway Department, with the remaining 30 percent divided equally between cities and counties. Each city and county receives a share based on population.
The Highway Department prioritizes projects of regional significance in the state, including the Interstate 30 corridor through downtown Little Rock and North Little Rock.
Danny Straessle, a department spokesman, called the two I-49 projects on which bids were opened the "most notable" in Wednesday's bid opening.
The larger of the two projects will widen a 5.1-mile section between Arkansas 264 and New Hope Road in Rogers from four lanes to six.
APAC-Central of Fayetteville's $38.7 million bid was the lowest of two bids submitted for the project. The other bid was $50.6 million from Kiewit Infrastructure South Co. of Fort Worth. Four other companies expressed interest in the project but didn't submit bids.
The second I-49 project will widen a 3.4-mile section between U.S. 62 and Arkansas 72 in Bentonville. Crossland Construction Co. Inc. of Columbus, Kan., said it could do the work for $27.7 million. Its bid was lower than a $32.4 million bid from Manhattan Road & Bridge Co. of Tulsa and a $37.2 million bid from Kiewit.
The work will temporarily add to the challenges facing motorists in Northwest Arkansas, where as many as 77,000 vehicles travel the I-49 corridor daily.
Work on the latest I-49 projects likely will begin just as the work on two other I-49 widening projects wrap up: a $21.6 million project on a 3.4-mile section between U.S. 412 and Wagon Wheel Road and a $28.3 million project on a 4.5-mile section between U.S. 71B and U.S. 412, both in Springdale.
"Everybody just has to be careful and be patient," Straessle said.
The four projects are part of a larger initiative that totals more than two dozen widening and interchange improvements to the corridor from Fayetteville north to the Missouri border.
"People in Northwest Arkansas are excited to get these projects done," Barnett said. "Nobody likes construction, but the projects that are already completed are giving Northwest Arkansas a chance to grow. If we didn't do something now, it was going to shut down.
"All the projects, although they are difficult during the construction phase, are welcome relief," he said. "It's keeping Northwest Arkansas moving, it's creating jobs and it's creating a much safer highway for the motoring public."
Bids were opened Wednesday on 11 state projects, six city projects and 35 county projects. Other significant projects, including the low bid and bidder:
• Widen to four lanes 3.9 miles of U.S. 167 from Bangs Slough to Arkansas 172 in Calhoun County, $16.9 million, W.G. Yates & Sons Construction Co. of Philadelphia, Miss.
• Widen to four lanes 3.7 miles of U.S. 64 west from Beebe in White County, $8.9 million, H.R. Quadri Contractors LLC of Van Buren, Mo.
• Reconstruct 2.9 miles of Arkansas 4 between McGehee and Arkansas City in Desha County, $7.4 million, Kiewit.
• Replace a bridge on Arkansas 124 over Cadron Creek in Van Buren County, $6.2 million, Phillips Hardy Inc. of Booneville, Mo.
Metro on 06/23/2016