Transportation projects forwarded to regional planners

SPRINGDALE — A regional planning committee is recommending $9 million in transportation projects in Northwest Arkansas next year.

“It sounds like a lot of money, but it’s not,” said Patsy Christie, chairwoman of the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission’s Technical Advisory Committee.

Money for the projects comes to regional planning each year from the federal Surface Transportation Block Grant Program to be used for regionally significant projects. The money became available in 2012 after the region surpassed a population of 200,000 in the 2010 Census.

Projects forwarded to the full regional planning commission for fiscal 2019 include $2.9 million to extend Dixieland Road to J.B. Hunt Drive in Lowell; $2.9 million to extend 56th street in Springdale and Johnson from Don Tyson Parkway south; and $1.2 million to improve Arkansas 170 in Farmington.

Smaller projects in Bentonville, Fayetteville, Bella Vista and Centerton are also on the list.

Regional significance is defined as an improvement to major routes such as north/ south corridors and east/ west corridors and frontage roads that improve access and reduce crash rates to relieve congestion on the major routes. Plans and studies may be included as regional projects.

The annual amount that comes to the region is usually about $7.5 million. This year it is expected to be $7.7 million plus a one-time additional $1.4 million from the federal Highway Infrastructure Program.

Cities and counties submit projects each year and planners score and prioritize them. Projects not selected for funding roll forward to the next year. For 2019, more than $22 million was requested for projects in the two-county region.

Projects in the pipeline greatly exceed the amount of money available each year, according to Tim Conklin, with regional planning. Conklin is recommending planners defer adding any new requests to the list for 2020. Projects not funded for 2019 will be reconsidered for possible funding in 2020.

If problems arise for a project, the money will be redistributed to other eligible projects.

The committee also recommended the full commission approve the region’s

proposed Transportation Improvement Program for 2019 through 2022.

Some examples of projects

on the list include completing Interstate 49 and related improvements, work on making Arkansas 112 a traffic corridor, extending the U.S. 412 Springdale Northern Bypass and widening Arkansas 16 between Fayetteville and Elkins.

The Arkansas Department of Transportation uses the information to identify and prioritize projects as set by Regional Planning.

The projects are developed from the larger list of projects in the region’s 2040 plan.