BENTONVILLE — A new interchange at Eighth Street and Interstate 49 is essentially done and expected to open to traffic sometime within the next two weeks.
Officials from the state Highway Department, Bentonville and several other agencies in Northwest Arkansas gathered Wednesday morning for a ceremony to celebrate the near-completion of the interchange. All that remains is some minor cleanup work, according to Mitchell Archer, construction engineer for the Arkansas Department of Transportation, District 9.
“This facility provides direct access to Eighth Street and on into the city of Bentonville, but it also provides direct access to the Walmart campus, which is a huge step for all the employees that are over here,” said Danny Straessle, a spokesman for the Highway Department. “The interchange itself has been a long time in coming. It’s really been something that the residents have looked forward to, that the commuters have looked forward to.”
Crossland Construction of Columbus, Kan., was the contractor on the $29 million project.
“We’d like to express our appreciation to the highway department and the city of Bentonville and also our federal congressional delegations for all their support and efforts to get this constructed,” said Michael Lindsey, director of public affairs for Walmart. “We’ve got a current home office right down the street and this is going to help associates that work there get to and fro. It’s also going to help our vendors, our suppliers and also the community, so we’re excited about this, but it’s also going to be the gateway to our new home office, construction will start later this summer.”
The new Walmart headquarters campus along Southeast Eighth Street west of I-49 is expected to be home to 14,000 to 17,000 employees.
Federal, state and local money was used for the project, Straessle said.
“There was a congressional earmark that was set aside for this back in the day,” Straessle said. “That was the foundation upon which this project was built. It’s a great example of how state, local and federal can work together.”
Archer said that grant was for $35 million and came in 2005.
The area has been a focus of the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission for some time, said Tim Conklin, senior planner.
“Some of the most congested roadways in Northwest Arkansas are located in and around Bentonville and the Walmart headquarters,” Conklin said. “The interchange is part of a larger east-west Eighth Street corridor to improve mobility.”
Archer said nearby interchanges and railroad tracks challenged designers who had to make the interchange fit in the very tight space.
The new interchange uses what are called braided ramps because of the proximity of two nearby exits on I-49 at Southeast 14th Street and East Central Avenue. Braided ramps are used in situations where an off ramp from one interchange and an on ramp from another interchange are so close to one another that they cross each other vertically. The design makes the crossing ramps appear to be braided. Braided ramps also allow interchanges to be closer than one mile apart. The highway department policy typically does not allow interchanges to be placed less than a mile apart.
There are also tunnels under the Eighth Street bridge for ramps and auxiliary lanes on the interstate between the interchanges.
Mayor Stephanie Orman thanked highway officials for their partnership and said the city can now get to work on its part of the project, which is completing the Eighth Street improvement project.
“All of the right of way has been acquired and all of the utilities have been relocated so we are finalizing some design things, and we do have a partner in it and we’re working with them on trying to decide exactly when it moves forward,” Orman said. “Probably some time in May, you’ll see us give some type of announcement on that and we’ll be able to give you all the details then.”
Orman would not say who the partner is.
The Eighth Street Improvement Project was announced in 2005. It runs along Southeast Eighth Street from I-49 west to Southwest I Street and includes widening Eighth Street to five lanes from the interstate to Moberly Lane. Plans also call for widening the road to four lanes with a raised median between Moberly Lane and Southwest I Street.
In addition to the Walmart headquarters, the area also has the 8th Street Market, which includes Bike Rack Brewing Co., and Northwest Arkansas Community College’s culinary program.