City to ask public for thoughts on interstate crossing

SPRINGDALE — The city plans a new east-west traffic corridor to help residents who need to cross Interstate 49, not get on or off the road.

An extension of Har-Ber Avenue from North 48th Street to the east would align with West Emma Avenue at North Gutensohn Road. The road would cross Interstate 49, but not provide access to the interstate, said Brad Baldwin, the city’s director of engineering and public works.

The city set a public meeting for the road and its route for 5 to 7 p.m. today at Central Junior High School. City officials and representatives of Garver Engineering, which has the road in early design stages, will attend.

Mayor Doug Sprouse said only one structure, a house on 48th Street, would require removing.

Officials hope the new street will reduce traffic congestion on Elm Springs Road and West Sunset Avenue. The roads provide entrance and exit roads to the interstate north and south of the planned extension.

Garver representatives will share the results of traffic studies at the meeting, Baldwin said.

“Having other ways for traffic to move east to west across I-49 is critical as the region continues to grow,” said Tim Conklin, assistant

director of the Northwest Arkansas Planning Commission.

He said cities have spent millions of dollars to widen crossings and create other ways over the interstate.

Rogers opened its Magnolia Street overpass Oct. 8, which was built to reduce traffic. The city plans two more overpasses — one just south of Mercy Hospital Northwest and the other at Oak Street. The city will pay for both through its 2018 bond program.

“The more the better,” Conklin said.

Shane Vancleave, manager of the Macadoodles store on 48th, thinks the overpass might relieve traffic on Elm Springs Road, which gets heavy in the morning and again in the afternoon when schools are dismissed.

But he’s not sure about the road’s value as a connection to the east side of town.

“Emma dead ends at the high school now,” he said.

Baldwin shared 2016 estimates of the Springdale road’s cost at $16.5 million.

The city would pay for the 11/4 mile project with money from the 2018 bond issue dedicated for streets, he said.

The city would pay for the entire project, Sprouse said. The work isn’t eligible for state or federal money, he said.

The overpass would include a bicycle lane, Sprouse said.

And the city now builds a 12-foot wide trail with each thoroughfare street built, Baldwin said.

The crossing puts the Pride of Springdale Trail one step closer to the city’s vision, said Chris Weiser, chairman of the city’s Trails Committee. The trail would connect Springdale and Har-Ber high schools.

Weiser said he is excited about the connections to the city and the Razorback Greenway the overpass would bring.

Engineers would design the Har-Ber Avenue extension as a three-lane road with two traffic lanes and a center turning lane, Baldwin said. He said this agrees with the city’s street plan.

The Har-Ber extension would include a bridge at a creek crossing and the base of the road would be raised because the planned route lies in a 100-year-flood plain.

Baldwin said the timetable for the project sets construction to start in October 2020.

The overpass requires approval from the Arkansas Department of Transportation.

“We must get an airspace permit granting permission for us to use the air over the interstate,” Baldwin said. The city and Garver engineers has already begun discussions of the project, he said.

Danny Strassle, a spokesman for the Transportation Department, said the overpass would become property of the department when completed.