Walton Boulevard to become Bentonville's responsibility

BENTONVILLE -- City road crews will have more miles to maintain when Bentonville takes ownership of a 7.5-mile stretch of Walton Boulevard.

The state Department of Transportation owns the road, also known as U.S. 71B, and will turn the highway over to the city after it finishes some improvements.

By the numbers

Arkansas has the 12th largest highway system in the country with 16,400 miles. That’s more than California, New York or Florida, said Danny Straessle, Arkansas Department of Transportation.

Source: Staff report

The ownership change gives the city more control when improvements need to be made, said Mayor Bob McCaslin.

"There's a lot of open spaces along that corridor that will see development over the years to come," McCaslin said. "For the city to have autonomy over that would play better than having to request from our partner, the state, each time we wanted to do something."

The Transportation Department owns and maintains highways within the state. A city is required to receive state approval and permits when it wants to change or improve a state road or interchange.

Often the state will partner with municipalities to do repairs or construction with the agreement the local government agency will take over responsibility of the road once the work is done, according to state and local officials.

The City Council last week decided the city will take ownership of Walton Boulevard as well as a 0.71-mile section of Southwest Regional Airport Boulevard, also known as Arkansas 12, from Rainbow Curve west to the intersection with Southwest I Street.

Walton Boulevard is a primary business corridor stretching from Interstate 49 Exit 93 at the city's northern end to the interstate's Exit 85 on the city's eastern side.

State improvements on the soon-to-be transferred roads include street overlay, curb work and replacing asphalt sidewalks, according to a memo to council members from Dennis Birge, transportation engineer.

"The overlay is probably putting this road in a position for very little maintenance for at least a decade," McCaslin said about Walton Boulevard.

The council agreed Oct. 23 to take over 6.1 miles of South and North Walton Boulevard from Rainbow Curve north to the roundabout at Interstate 49 Exit 93.

The state previously agreed the city would take the 1.5 miles of Southeast Walton Boulevard from Rainbow Curve to I-49 once the interchange project at Exit 85 is complete.

The Walton Boulevard/U.S. 71B corridor turns into Walnut Street in Rogers when it crosses the interstate at Exit 85. Rogers plans to take ownership of Walnut Street to South Eighth Street.

Work on Exit 85 Rogers includes a $27 million interchange project slated to be finished by summer 2020, according to Danny Straessle, spokesman for the state Department of Transportation.

The initial design of the interchange project didn't meet the two cities' needs, but the construction cost to implement a different design increased by about $6 million, Straessle said.

The two cities agreed to pay the difference by giving the state $3 million -- $1.5 million each -- and then taking over a portion of the state highway.

"We're able to take that mileage off the state highway system, and we don't have to perform maintenance on it," he said, explaining that's how the remaining $3 million will be recouped.

Rogers looks at adopting state highways on a case-by-case basis, said Ben Cline, city's spokesman. It makes sense in Walnut Street's case.

"Our citizens kind of expect us to maintain this road, and a lot of times our hands are tied because it's not our road," he said. "This will give us the ability to have full control over it without having to work through other channels."

Cline said New Hope Road was another example. It was formerly Arkansas 94 before the city took ownership of the western portion of the road.

Cities can control how roads are used as well as maintained when they take over highways, Straessle said.

Fayetteville, for example, expressed interest in using the two outside lanes on College Avenue as bus lanes, but that's not something the state department would permit, he said.

"Until they take it off our hands, they're not going to be able to do anything with it," he said.

Fayetteville and the state department have a standing agreement to work together if there are highways the city is interested in owning, said Chris Brown, city engineer.

"On our end, we don't want to take over something we have to immediately work on," he said.

Fayetteville will take over about 4.2 miles of Arkansas 112 in the city, which is parts of Razorback Road, Maple Street and Garland Avenue, once its widening and other improvements are completed, Brown said. It's the stretch from West 15th Street by Baum Stadium north through the University of Arkansas campus to Interstate 49.

NW News on 10/29/2018

Upcoming Events