NW airport examines options for access road

Funds requested for expanded study

HIGHFILL — Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport officials have said their longtime dream of a limited access road for the airport may not be a viable option.

But a 4-mile road from the airport to the U.S. 412 Northern Bypass at Elm Springs might be possible if it is integrated into a wider road network that would move traffic from western Benton County southeast to Interstate 49, they said.

“The significant change is the notion of getting away from what I call the long driveway to the airport, that this road could serve a larger geographic area, a larger customer base than just the airport,” said Scott Van Laningham, airport executive director.

Whatever happens, an environmental study of the options must be completed first.

“We’ve got to get through the environmental deal before we ever get to the OK, ” Van Laningham said.

Operations committee members Wednesday recommended that the full airport board of directors approve a request for $150,000, on top of the $450,000 remaining in an existing contract, to expand and complete a required study of road access options.

The study could take two years or more to complete.

The additional work was requested by federal highway and environmental officials, who must eventually sign off on the study.

Environmental regulations require that all options be considered, including all roads that could conceivably connect to the airport, Van Laningham said. That could mean a limited access road to the soon-to-open U.S. 412 Northern Bypass, or it could mean using Arkansas 264 to I-49, or Arkansas 264 to Arkansas 112 and then down to U.S. 412.

Part of the equation is whether existing roads can be improved enough to provide adequate access to the airport.

Philip Taldo, a regional airport board member and state highway commissioner, said a new approach could give the Arkansas Department of Transportation an opportunity to route western Benton County traffic someplace other than through Bentonville to access I-49.

“It could be better, ultimately, for everyone in Northwest Arkansas,” he said.

Money the airport has for the access road could be combined with state money to improve existing routes to the airport. Both Arkansas 112 and Arkansas 264 are two-lane, winding roads, but the state has proposed improvements to both.

“We’ve still got to go back and look at it,” said Jerry Farrar, an engineer who has worked on the road study.

Danny Straessle, a spokesman with the Department of Transportation, said his agency has no “opinion or a preference on what type of road” is built, but the agency has provided some guidance about how to navigate the federal process and environmental guidelines.

Phil Phillips, another airport board member, said the west end of the proposed access road could be opened up for all traffic to use to reach the 412 bypass.

Several board members noted that during the past 20 years, the rest of Northwest Arkansas has been getting closer to the airport, which was built in an isolated, rural area. When it was first envisioned, a dedicated access road would have been about 8 miles long; the distance is now about 4 miles from the airport to the 412 bypass interchange at Arkansas 112.