SPRINGDALE -- Drivers will have to wait in traffic a few more years until the city raises the money to build a bridge over Interstate 49.
The planned extension of Har-Ber Avenue east to West Emma Avenue at North Gutensohn Road was part of the 2018 bond program. Skyrocketing construction costs mean the city will build only Phase 1 of the project now -- between Gutensohn and North 40th Street.
Voters in February 2018 approved the sale of $200 million in bonds, which included $71.4 million for street projects.
Four years and 20 projects later, the fund is nearly depleted. The volatile construction costs over the past year have forced city officials to rethink plans for the final projects.
Phase 2 of Har-Ber -- the bridge and its approaches -- likely will need to wait until the city's next bond issue, said Mayor Doug Sprouse. He expects the next bond to go before voters in late 2023 or early 2024.
The project won't include entrances and exits to the interstate, but will carry traffic over it similar to the overpass at Watkins Avenue.
Julie Rogerson was unaware of the project Wednesday, but said the overpass would be a "game-changer" for her commute.
She lives in Har-Ber Meadows with Har-Ber Avenue running along the north side of the subdivision. She works as a physical therapist and part owner of Trinity Rehabilitation and Sports Management, which sits about a block south of the intersection of Gutensohn and West Sunset Avenue.
"The traffic getting on Elm Springs Road is horrible," she said. "And 412 is never an option. It's just crazy."
Traffic counts from the Arkansas Department of Transportation show about 43,000 vehicles a day cross the interstate at Elm Springs Road. Another 76,000 cross at Sunset.
The City Council on Tuesday authorized a change to the city's contract with Crossland Heavy Contractors to build Phase 1 of the Har-Ber Avenue project.
The change will save the city $1.4 million by leaving turn lanes and traffic lights until Phase 2. Sprouse noted these wouldn't be needed until Phase 2 is completed and open.
The city on March 8 opened the Crossland bid for Phase 1 for $11.3 million, the only bid the city received for the project, said Ryan Carr, the deputy director of the city's Engineering Department. The city was expecting a cost of about $9.2 million as estimated by the design engineers.
The city is seeing about a 20% increase in construction costs over engineers' estimates, Carr said. And the market is still volatile, he added.
He noted both phases of the Har-Ber extension were estimated at $16.5 million, but now will cost just less than $10 million for one, Carr said.
Sprouse noted the 2018 bond program for roads has two more pending projects: South Dixieland Road south from West Apple Blossom to Wagon Wheel Road and improvements for Kendrick Avenue in the city's northern industrial park.
Dixieland was designed and estimated at $5.8 million in 2017, but construction costs will be more like $7.5 million, Carr said. Land and right of way acquisition for the road are complete.
Kendrick has been estimated at $3 million.
Both projects will receive 80% of the construction costs through a grant from the federal Economic Development Administration, Sprouse said. The city will be responsible for 20% of the cost.
Both Dixieland and Kendrick will provide connections to development predicted along Arkansas 612, Springdale's northern bypass, Sprouse said, and another north-south corridor through the region.
"Dixieland will run from Wagon Wheel Road up through Rogers," Sprouse said. "It should relieve some traffic congestion on 71 Business and Interstate 49."
U.S. 71 Business is named Thompson Street through Springdale and carries about 31,000 vehicles a day.
"We were pretty sure we'd have the money for both projects in this bond," Sprouse said. If not, the City Council might decide to pay for the remainder of the project out of the general fund.
"Our best estimates show that we will be able to finish these two projects," Carr said. "But we will have to wait and see until they are bid."
Phase 2
Several other projects will hold until the city's next bond issue, Sprouse said.
The second phase of construction on South 64th Street will widen the street to a boulevard south from Watkins Avenue to Tyson Parkway in the Arvest Ballpark district.
The City Council in March approved a $1.18 million contract with Olsson Inc. for engineering and designing the expansion of George Boulevard north from Elm Springs Road to County Line Road. An expansion of County Line Road to Shaw Family Park is also part of the project.
This project can wait because it will tie in to a western extension of Tyson Parkway to Arkansas 112, Carr said.
That extension of Tyson Parkway west to Arkansas 112 is another project the city hopes to begin designing soon with unreserved funds, Carr said.
The Arkansas Department of Transportation in September announced plans to widen Arkansas 112 between Howard Nickell Road in Fayetteville and Sunset Avenue in Springdale. The project is expected to go out for bids in late 2023, according to Transportation Department officials. They expect construction to take up to 24 months.
The city will determine the design for the local street after hearing details of the state's design for Arkansas 112, Carr said.
The general fund holds about $20 million not designated to other projects, said Colby Fulfer, the city's chief of staff. City revenue above what is budgeted is funneled to the unreserved portion of the city's general fund, he said.