EL DORADO -- The Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department has unveiled design revisions to a proposed project to widen a section of U.S. 82 just west of El Dorado.
Property owners, county officials and a representative from at least one area water association reviewed the proposal during a public meeting in the Fellowship Hall of Wyatt Baptist Church on Tuesday.
It was the second such meeting the Highway Department has held on the project. Another was held in March.
Design engineers and other department officials answered questions and listened to comments at the meeting.
The work will cover a 6-mile stretch of U.S. 82 from the area just west of Airport Drive -- the entrance to South Arkansas Regional Airport at Goodwin Field -- to the bypass, east of Wrights Lane.
The project is part of the Connecting Arkansas Program, $1.8 billion worth of projects to improve connectivity and increase capacity on highways in the state.
Proposed plans for the 6-mile section of U.S. 82 call for an expansion that will include a mix of four- and five-lane highway divides.
Engineers explained that the four-lane sections will include open, 8-foot shoulders with a painted median.
In the middle of the five-lane segments will be a continuous left-turn lane. Curbs and gutters will also be part of the areas with five lanes, engineers said.
The approximate start date for the U.S. 82 project is 2018, the department has said.
As they did in March, state highway representatives said the proposed project will affect several residential and commercial properties along the route and require some land acquisition.
Just how many properties will be involved is not known at this point, said Ruby Jordan, the agency's section chief for public involvement.
"We don't know, total, how many properties will be affected. We'd hate to put a number on it right now because there are so many variables there," Jordan said.
"There will be some property acquisition, but we don't know how many," she said.
Otis Cary, who lives in the 4800 block of U.S. 82/Magnolia Highway, said the proposed work would cross his front yard.
Cary lives across the highway from Barkingham Acres, where property frontage would also be affected.
He said he would prefer to see the speed limit on U.S. 82 lowered to 45 mph from Oak Manor to the El Dorado city limits and the highway remain as is.
However, the Union County resident said plans for the U.S. 82 highway improvements represent progress.
"You can't get in the way of progress. Hopefully, they'll compensate the landowners adequately," he said.
It is an all-too familiar situation for the Union County resident, who has lived in the spot for 70 years.
"We went through this in the 1950s when they did the highway to Magnolia. I know how big a mess it's going to be. The biggest problem is moving the utilities," Cary said.
The El Dorado Water Utilities agency has said it is preparing for any work it might have to do in moving utility lines in the area.
Dean Storey, a member of the Union County Quorum Court, was at the meeting and said he sees the proposed project as an opportunity for the county to enhance its economic development efforts.
He pointed to similar highway improvement projects that have been done in other communities around the state.
"I'd love to see us get as much of it as we can. All of the other cities where this has happened have seen the businesses along those corridors flourish," Storey said.
State Desk on 10/20/2016