Planners recommend ArDOT focus on Arkansas 112, Northern Bypass

SPRINGDALE -- Regional planners likely will recommend improvements to Arkansas 112 and building the next section of the U.S. 412 Northern Bypass as priorities for the state Transportation Department.

Members of the Technical Advisory Committee agreed Thursday to make the recommendation to the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission's Policy Committee next week.

More eyes in the sky

The Arkansas Department of Transportation is planning to install 52 traffic cameras and six message boards along Interstate 49 between south Fayetteville and northern Bentonville in conjunction with installing new signs from Alma north to the Missouri line. Joseph Hawkins, with the department, told regional planners Thursday the cameras will be monitored by department personnel in Little Rock but they will also be accessible to the public online through IDrive Arkansas. The cameras will be about a half-mile apart and most will focus on interchanges.

Source: Staff report

It's part of the Arkansas Department of Transportation's statewide improvement program. Planning groups from around the state identify priority projects for their areas and submit recommendations to the Transportation Department. The agency uses the information to prioritize projects.

Regional planners identified 15 projects from the area's 2040 Metropolitan Transportation Plan, worth an estimated $545.8 million, but know there's not enough money available to build them all. Thursday's list came from regional projects identified in the 2040 plan for the years 2021-30.

The Transportation Department is doing environmental studies and designing improvements to Arkansas 112 from Fayetteville to Bentonville, which is expected to be a north-south corridor after it is widened to five lanes and straightened in places.

Already, $37.5 million has been set aside for the corridor along with $10 million for the interchange at Arkansas 112 and U.S. 412. Planners estimate spending another $180 million on Arkansas 112 between 2021 and 2030. The corridor is 18 miles long.

"There's actually five different segments of Arkansas 112 and those were identified in the 2015 Arkansas 112 study," said Tim Conklin, senior planner. "When you think about what projects, as a region, need funds, obviously Highway 112 over many, many years will need additional funding. I kind of compare it to 265, which is 20-plus years in the making from Highway 16/Huntsville Road all the way up to Pleasant Grove Road in Rogers today."

The Transportation Department and Fayetteville have agreed to do a portion of Arkansas 112 in Fayetteville, which includes parts of Razorback Road, Maple Street and Garland Avenue through the university campus and Agri Farm. The department will complete construction of the project, then the city will take over maintenance as a city street.

The next portion of the U.S. 412 Northern Bypass, about six miles from Arkansas 112 to U.S. 412 in Tontitown, is estimated to cost $200 million to complete. Some money has been set aside to buy right of way. The completed section from Interstate 49 to Arkansas 112 is designated U.S. 612 for the time being.

"That's the message, Conklin said. "We could pick other projects, but the projects that are currently being designed in Northwest Arkansas are only partially funded."

NW News on 09/21/2018

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