FAYETTEVILLE -- Arkansas highway officials unveiled Thursday planned changes to the Wedington Drive and Interstate 49 interchange aimed at improving traffic flow during rush hours.
"This project is all about controlling the left turn on Wedington, especially for westbound traffic. During the commute times in the morning and the afternoon you have a lot of vehicles cuing up to turn onto I-49," said Danny Straessle, a Highway Department spokesman. "We're proposing a loop ramp in the southeast corner of the interchange. What they'll do is hang to the right and they'll have two dedicated lanes to get off Wedington and go northbound on I-49."
The big picture
Improvement for Wedington interchange has been in the works for several years as part of an overall I-49 improvement package.
The project is expected to cost $15 to $20 million. Bids should be let in late 2018 or early 2019 with construction starting shortly after. Construction may take two to three years.
I-49 through the Wedington interchange has already been widened to three lanes in each direction.
The Interstate 49 corridor has 17 projects, including interchange improvements and widening, either recently completed, in progress or planned along the 26 miles between Fayetteville and Bentonville. All the work is expected to be completed or well under way by 2020.
More information on the various I-49 projects, including the Wedington interchange is available at ConnectingArkansas Program.com.
Source: Staff Reports
Eastbound traffic on Wedington through the interchange will no longer have to wait for cars turning north across traffic.
Phil Gerke, a Salem Road resident said the changes should be a huge improvement for the morning commute.
"You've got to allow like 20 minutes to get from Ozarks Electric to I-49. It's crazy," Gerke said. "So, this double turn lane to the right and underneath man, that is just awesome."
The plans also show a widened overpass bridge, fewer turn signals on Wedington, and a bicycle and pedestrian side path on the north side of the interchange. Some changes were made for bicycles and pedestrians at cost to the city of about $415,000.
"What we're looking at from the city's perspective is that widened side path on the north side," said City Engineer Chris Brown. "We now want to talk about extending that side path to the limits of the project and overall just looking at some of the pedestrian impacts. We've got another signal there at Steamboat, which is great for pedestrians but it's such a wide crossing we really need some refuge islands and some tweaks and enhancements for the pedestrians and bicyclists. But the big picture, it's great, it's a huge investment and it's going to end up being something that's going to help people for a long time."
The project also includes raised curb medians on Wedington to restrict left turns. Drivers will still be able to turn left but they'll have to go to a light, Straessle said.
"The curbs will actually help customers get to the businesses that are on either side of Wedington safely," Straessle said. "We're not in the business of putting businesses out of business. We're in the business of making sure those customers arrive safely."
Len Edens, who owns property on the southwest corner of the interchange said he has worked with the Highway Department for the last year to secure access to his property off Shiloh Drive. Edens said he likes parts of the proposal but isn't so sure about the medians.
"There are going to be some businesses on the north side of the road that are going to be extremely unhappy, like Harp's," Edens said. "It's gonna be a Chinese fire drill for a while."
Marty Nall owns West Oaks Animal Hospital near the southbound exit ramp and is also concerned about the left turns off Wedington.
"Access to my business would be a concern but it looks like, overall, it's something they've gotta do. There's an awful lot of traffic out here," Nall said. "As the area grows, we're just going to have to deal with some things like that but people get used to it. They'll figure it out."
Jim and Joan Wimberly live on Township but travel Wedington daily. They were among the 80 or so people who showed up during the first hour of the input session.
"From what I've seen it looks pretty good," Jim Wimberly said. "At certain times of day, it's terrible. To me, it's dangerous. Then, I feel sorry for so many people waiting there to turn. I try to time it so I miss the jams."
Tom Snider lives off North Salem Road and attends Cross Church, which is building a church southeast of the interchange.
"I wanted to see if they were messing up anything and how they're going to speed up the traffic," Snider said. "I'm pretty well satisfied with what I saw."
Snider said he's concerned with the southbound exit ramp from I-49 because there's not much room.
NW News on 03/10/2017