Bid to pave way for Arkansas 5 safety upgrades

The Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department opened a low bid of $7.8 million Wednesday on a project to address safety concerns on a section of Arkansas 5 in Saline and Garland counties.

The project was one of 37 projects on which low bids worth $98,901,081.38 opened in morning and afternoon sessions.

The bid by Redstone Construction Group Inc. of Little Rock to do the work on the Arkansas 5 project was lower than an $8.9 million bid submitted by Kiewit Infrastrucure South Co. of Fort Worth, Texas, the only other contractor to compete for the work.

The project is part of a series of recommendations from a safety study that focused on a stretch of Arkansas 5 from near the Benton city limits in Saline County to the Garland County line and that found the stretch’s crash rate to be higher than similar rural state highways.

The study described the route as a two-lane minor arterial on rolling terrain with 10-foot and 12-foot lanes and shoulder widths of 1 to 3 feet. Near Benton, about 5,300 vehicles per day travel on the route, while closer to Hot Springs Village about 2,300 vehicles a day travel on it.

About 130 crashes occurred on the 18-mile section between Jan. 1, 2010, and Dec. 31, 2012, according to the safety study. Two crashes resulted in fatalities, and 21 others resulted in serious injuries. Seventy-three percent of the crashes involved a single vehicle.

The project will include widening the shoulders and adding what are called “rumble stripes,” which are grooves put in the center double-yellow lines to alert motorists they are crossing into the oncoming traffic lane, said Danny Straessle, a department spokesman.

The project also will involve laying down additional asphalt on part of the route, he said.

The project is expected to begin in the early spring if the low bid clears a review that the department conducts on all low bids, Straessle said.

Other significant projects, the low bid and the contractor include:

Widen a 4.2-mile section of U.S. 82 in Magnolia to five lanes from two; $21,934,258.90; James Construction Group LLC of Baton Rouge, La. m Enhanced striping, shoulder rumble strips and rumble stripes added on various highways in the northwest quadrant of the state; $11,998,596.88; Traf-Mark Industries LLC of Collierville, Tenn.

Replace four bridges on Arkansas 14 in Jackson County between Cache River and Amagon; $11,908,017.25; Robertson Inc./Bridge and Grading Division of Poplar Bluff, Mo.

Rehabilitate a section of Arkansas 285 in Faulkner County from Arkansas 124 to the Bone community; $8,070,558.47; Delta Asphalt of Arkansas Inc. of Paragould. m Reconstruct the Arkansas Welcome Center in Harrison; $2,249,887.50; Dayco Construction of Damascus.