FORT SMITH -- Nearly eight years after being selected as the site for the U.S. Marshals Service's national museum, work has begun on the banks of the Arkansas River to prepare the site for construction.
Museum President and CEO Patrick Weeks said the dirt work is the prelude to construction, which will begin in the spring. Officials have said the 53,000-square-foot museum is to open Sept. 24, 2019, the 230th anniversary of the Marshals Service, the nation's oldest law enforcement agency.
Cole Goodman, chairman of the museum's board of directors, said he wishes other parts of Arkansas and Oklahoma would become more involved in the museum since the Marshals Service was the arm of the law in the early days of both states.
The start of site preparation "shows the people of our region and other parts of the country that we are serious, that we are going to open it on the 230th anniversary of the Marshals Service," he said of the museum.
Crews from Garrett Excavation of Hot Springs began moving dirt Monday morning to stabilize the ground for the footprint of the museum building. Weeks said about 1,500 trucks will deliver 23,000 cubic yards of dirt over the next month to build up a solid base for the building.
Engineers estimated last year that 16 feet of soil would have to be excavated and replaced because the ground at the site was deemed unstable. Much of the soil consists of debris from a 1996 tornado that struck Fort Smith and Van Buren that was used as fill on the riverside property.
More recent tests showed that the soil was not as unstable as originally thought, but Weeks said that as a precaution the 23,000 cubic yards of soil will be replaced and allowed to settle and compact over the winter. He said the plateau on which the foundation and building will be built will be 3-5 feet above the surrounding ground.
Officials approved modifications to the museum's design to counter the effects of inflation on the cost. A 102-foot-tall section of the star-shaped roof that was to tower over the Arkansas River has been lowered to 40 feet. More 90-degree angles in the building also were added in places outside the public's view to simplify the design and reduce the cost.
The development of the museum is estimated to cost around $58 million.
Weeks said the museum still has about $22 million to raise to meet its goal.
State Desk on 10/06/2017