DECATUR -- Three years ago, Decatur mayor Bob Tharp asked officials with the Arkansas Department of Transportation to replace the bridges at Decatur Branch on the south end of Decatur and Wolf Creek on the city's north end.
Over the years, both of these structures have begun to deteriorate due to the increase in traffic on Arkansas 59.
On March 24, the stage was set to replace the rapidly deteriorating bridge structure with the opening of a temporary bypass around Wolf Creek on Arkansas 59 near Crystal Lake Road.
At noon, the highway department stopped traffic on both ends of the road running up to the Wolf Creek Bridge. Crews began pulling the closed signs from the bypass to the old Wolf Creek stretch of the highway. And then traffic began to move over the bypass.
But the bypass is not without a few shortcomings, officials said. The access road leading to Crystal Lake Road is too narrow; two cars cannot pass without going off the side of the pavement. The southbound lane on the north end is also narrow and tricky and tends to surprise drivers traveling into Decatur.
For these reasons, the highway department has dropped the speed limit from 55 mph to 45 mph from the top of the hill to the north of the bridge all the way into Decatur.
The new Wolf Creek Bridge is expected to be complete by early summer. It is expected to cut down the number of accidents and deaths at the Crystal Lake Road intersection.