BENTONVILLE -- Proposed improvements to Southeast 14th Street, also designated as Arkansas 102, between J Street and Interstate 49 were discussed at a meeting Thursday.
The drop-in event held by the Arkansas Department of Transportation drew a steady crowd at the Bentonville Community Center. Within the first 35 minutes, more than 75 people had signed up at the meeting room and then walked around to look at designs set up on tables and other information placed on easels as Department of Transportation officials answered questions.
An image showing what the section could look like was projected on a large screen. It showed three 11-foot-wide lanes on each side of the street with a concrete center median with berms separating a sidewalk on one side and a shared-use path on the other.
Aaron Boehmler of Bentonville said he came because he cares about what's going on in the city. He said he wanted to see if the project will make traffic along the stretch more efficient.
Boehmler said he's been in traffic on the street in the afternoon and evening.
"Any time we can get six lanes, let's do it," he said.
The purpose of the project is to improve safety and offer increased mobility by adding capacity to Southeast 14th Street and improving several busy intersections, said Dave Parker, transportation department public information officer.
The project need was identified through a corridor planning study. This stretch of Southeast 14th Street was identified as one of the state's more congested highway segments, Parker said.
He said $10 million was assigned in the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program for the project, but a final cost estimate has not been established. The work will be funded with federal and state highway dollars administered by the Department of Transportation.
The stretch of the road between J Street and the interstate is 1.1 miles. It has an average traffic count of 35,000 vehicles a day, Parker said.
Potential project benefits include two additional traffic lanes, increased safety features, multimodal opportunities, optimized traffic conditions, an innovative design approach and improved intersections, according to the state transportation department.
Multimodal opportunities means the project will address the needs of multiple types of transportation -- first the motorists, then improved safety and access for pedestrians and cyclists.
"There will be nice, new, wide sidewalks and pathways for those nonmotorist travelers," Parker said.
The project's initial phase will focus on data and feedback collection. In addition to traffic analysis, the Department of Transportation is conducting roadway design, construction planning, survey, and environmental permitting activities to identify project opportunities and constraints, according to information given at the meeting.
Ashley Patterson, who lives downtown, said she attended the meeting to make sure active transportation is being prioritized.
"We put a lot of effort and we pride ourselves on being a biking town, and I think we've done so much to that effort and it's been really cool," she said. "I don't want to see that fall with this project. Multiple crosswalks, I think shared paths on both sides that maybe have a buffer between that and the traffic is important."
Northwest Arkansas has experienced tremendous growth in recent years. It was ranked the 10th best place to live by U.S. News and World Report for 2023-2024. The metropolitan area, which includes Benton, Madison and Washington counties, is projected to have a population of 1 million by 2045, according to the state Department of Transportation website.
The Walmart Home Office project is one example of the growth. The campus expansion will drive innovation and increase opportunities, according to the Department of Transportation. It will also bring more people to the area resulting in increased use of Southeast 14th Street, which has experienced a 220% increase in daily traffic since 1990, according to the department's website.
The property is generally bounded by East Central Avenue to the north, Southeast Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway and Southeast Moberly Lane to the east, Southeast 14th Street to the south and Southeast J Street to the west, according to city planning documents.
Construction of the highway improvements should begin in 2027 and take 24 to 30 months to finish, Parker said.
The public can provide comments online at bentonvillehwy102.com using comment forms on the website. People can also print the form and mail it to: Environmental Division, 10324 Interstate 30, Little Rock, AR, 72209.
Comments will be accepted until 4:30 p.m. Dec. 29, according to an earlier news release from the Department of Transportation.
Those without internet access can contact Ruby Jordan-Johnson at (501) 569-2379 or [email protected] to inquire about the project. A Spanish translation of the presentation is available on the website.
