The U.S. Department of Commerce awarded a $2 million grant to help pay for construction of an access road in south Fayetteville.
City officials said the new stretch of road will support industrial expansion efforts, attract more business to the area and help protect it from flooding.
The road will open access to 47 city-owned acres that are currently inaccessible except on a gravel road that juts off South Industrial Drive.
Fayetteville set aside $500,000 in matching funds for the project, which is expected to create 35 jobs and spur $10 million in private investment.
"I am thrilled about this," Mayor Lioneld Jordan said Thursday afternoon at the site of the new road. "What a great day for Fayetteville."
Duke Technologies engineering firm is already interested in 5 of the acres for a new facility, said Devin Howland, Fayetteville's director of economic vitality.
The federal grant came from an allocated $1.2 billion in disaster supplemental funding for tornadoes and floods. The White River, located near the city's land, is prone to flooding.