Bella Vista council OKs bridge project contract

BELLA VISTA -- The City Council unanimously approved a contract for an environmental study and preliminary engineering to widen the Mercy Way bridge. The project will ultimately widen the bridge, which crosses Little Sugar Creek near the intersection of Mercy Way and U.S. 71, into a four-lane bridge.

Chris Suneson, director of the Community Development Services department, said the work would include surveying, geological studies, design, traffic studies and a look at what lane improvements will be needed on each end of the bridge. The only major piece of engineering excluded from this, he said, is for the actual construction.

"This is a complete package," he said.

According to the meeting packet, Burns and McDonnell engineering firm was selected after a federally guided process. The Community Development Services department budgeted $64,000 for the project in 2017 and ongoing contractual obligations will need to be budgeted in 2018 and 2019. The resolution also creates a revenue account for the city to receive reimbursement payments from the Arkansas Department of Transportation, which will reimburse 80 percent of expenses, for which the department has $256,000 in federal funds. A total price for the contract is not yet available.

Council member Doug Fowler said he was interested in knowing what the final bridge may look like, and if data collected during the city's ongoing comprehensive plan project could be used to determine what sort of aesthetic it may have. The bridge, he said, could be a very important asset to the city in the future.

"It does run over Little Sugar Creek, and Little Sugar Creek is considered something that could be beneficial to the city and could have future development up and down the road," he said. "It's not anything we want to bust the budget for ... I just want it to be a little more than functional."

Steven Beam, business manager with Burns and McDonnell, said aesthetic details aren't included in the contract but that doesn't preclude his firm from providing some help in that regard. Some elements, he said, would be simple to incorporate into the design, though some details, like trusses along the side, would not be possible because the bridge would need to be designed for them.

"It is a high-profile project and that's what makes it so exciting for us," he said. "I'm happy to have those conversations."

Mayor Peter Christie said the design needs to include bicycle access, because in its current incarnation, the bridge is not safe for cyclists.

In addition to this contract, the council also approved a rezoning of Old Bella Vista, a cost share agreement with the U.S. Corps of Engineers for a study of Little Sugar Creek's watershed, new fire department alerting equipment, accepting a Walton Family Foundation grant and working with the Bella Vista Property Owners Association to install additional way-finding signs and paving lower Suits Us Drive.

NW News on 09/26/2017

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