Trucking firms leery of Fort Smith’s plans

A Fort Smith nonprofit has released a plan to revitalize the city’s downtown, which has some members of the local transportation industry concerned.

After a year of planning, 64.6 Downtown released its “Propelling Downtown Forward Initiative,” a more than 100-page document that proposes ways to mitigate truck traffic to address pedestrian and cyclist safety as well as noise and air pollution.

The report, put together by Gateway Planning, a Dallas urban design and planning consulting firm, discusses several suggestions, including better enforcement of the existing truck bypass route, as well as new geographic and delivery time restrictions.

Last week, some representatives from around 40 companies voiced their issues with the truck route suggestions at a Fort Smith Board of Directors special study session on the proposal.

“They have never actually brought the transportation companies together,” said Dwayne Queen, of Arkansas Refrigerated Services Inc., who attended the meeting. “We had to bring ourselves together to the meeting to say we have some concerns with this plan.”

Steve Clark, chief executive officer of Propak Logistics, board member of the Central Business Improvement District and chairman of 64.6 Downtown, said progress cannot come at the expense of the city’s largest employers.

“That being said, with any plan for downtown, transportation and traffic flow is always a key component,” Clark said, adding that he considers the discussions to be productive.

“These are conversations we weren’t having before. I don’t look at this as combative and confrontational. I look at it as, we are having conversations about downtown, and

● all the stakeholders are at the table,” he said.

The plan highlights the need for stakeholders to come together to find a “balanced solution.” While it acknowledges that community members “strongly expressed a desire to see the complete removal of truck traffic in downtown,” it also acknowledges that the “implications on local businesses and stakeholders must be fully understood and analyzed.”

Russ Bragg, senior vice president of supply chain for Fort Smith’s OK Foods, said he wants to make sure the language in the plan is not “binding or precedentsetting with respect to any future consideration of downtown truck traffic by the board” until something involving all stakeholders is finalized.

Kathy Fieweger, a spokesman for ArcBest Corp., said the company believes the plan is “largely positive for Fort Smith and would like to support it, with one important exception.”

The Fort Smith logistics and transportation company takes issue with any proposal

to block access to the Garrison Avenue bridge and to Arkansas 64 and Arkansas 22, because of the ABF Freight service center on Wheeler Avenue. She said this “would have a significant detrimental impact on the continued viability of that facility and the good-paying jobs it supports.”

The cost to Arkansas Refrigerated Services and its downtown facility would come to more than $500,000 a year, Queen said, due to added time and distance to transportation routes and decreased operational efficiency.

Bragg said that in a recent study, he calculated that the proposed alternative truck routes added an average of 22 miles per load and 35 extra minutes of time in one direction.

“We are 100 percent behind improving Fort Smith,” Queen said. “Most of the people who work in the industry live in Fort Smith. I do myself. However, there are some real-world costs to businesses that we feel were overlooked.”

“We’re willing to compromise and work with the city and the [Central Business Improvement District], but we just need to be part of the conversation,” Queen added. “The proposed routes in the plan were not checked by civil engineers. So let’s find something we can agree upon that will actually work.”

The proposal calls for a “working group of City leadership and transportation stakeholders and downtown business and property owners” and “detailed trucking analysis” to come up with a final plan.

Queen agreed that “some objective data gathered by an outside group on proposed routes is going to be where you find common ground.”

Ultimately, Clark said he expects a compromise to be reached.

“I can’t imagine a scenario where it doesn’t play out for the best for everyone concerned. Candidly, it is in our selfish interest for everyone to be pleased with the final product,” Clark said. “Otherwise, it won’t work. So that in itself should indicate to all parties that there should be a healthy resolution.”

The agenda for the Central Business Improvement District’s Tuesday morning meeting includes a discussion about enforcement of the existing truck route, as well as consideration of the “Propelling Downtown Forward Initiative.”