Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Blasting to help bypass work begin
BENTONVILLE — Occasional blasting to remove a huge rock formation so work on the interchange for the Bella Vista Bypass can begin will likely continue through December, a highway engineer said Wednesday.
The blasting has been going on for several days. Mayor Stephanie Orman was on hand Wednesday to set off a 4,000-pound charge placed in a series of drilled holes that blew off a large section of rock face as part of a demonstration. The mountain of rock is directly in line with where Interstate 49 will eventually go.
“We’re going to end up with about 40 of them,” said Bashar Qedan, a resident engineer with the Arkansas Department of Transportation said of the blasts. “All that has to go first so we can build the main lanes.”
The blasts are typically being done between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. to avoid morning and evening rush hours, he said.
“It’s the most logical time,” Qedan said. “The least amount of travel.”
The blasts require traffic be stopped for up to 15 minutes in several locations along Interstate 49 from north of the bridges over Slaughter Pen Road to U.S. 549, Exit 93, and on Arkansas 549 from the roundabout to the bridges over Peach Orchard Road.
Traffic control is being handled by the Arkansas State Police.
The blasted rock will be used to build a bridge nearby.
The interchange will replace the roundabout at I-49 and U.S. 71. Work began Nov. 5 and is expected to take about 700 days to complete, weather permitting. It’s expected to cost about $66.6 million.
The interchange is one of two projects needed to finish the bypass, also known as the Arkansas/Missouri Connector, on the Arkansas side of the line. The other is 2.5 miles from Hiwasse to the state line. Two lanes are being added between Bentonville and Hiwasse to make it a four-lane, divided highway.
The bypass is the missing link on I-49 between Fort Smith and Kansas City.
A new state welcome center is planned along the southbound lanes just west of Hiwasse.
Scott Bennett, director of the Arkansas Department of Transportation, said recently the state’s investment in the Bella Vista Bypass is going to be about $276 million.
Missouri highway officials want to have their portion of the bypass finished in 2022, about the same time as the interchange project in Bentonville is expected to be complete, according to Andrew Mueller, a district engineer. The idea is to get the projects coordinated on both sides of the state line.
The Missouri Highway and Transportation Commission approved in March the finances and timeline for completion of 4.8 miles of I-49 from Pineville, Mo., to the state line. The estimated cost is $47.9 million.
Mueller said Missouri was thrilled to receive a $25 million federal grant to make completing its side of the project possible. That grant was landed by the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission, the metropolitan planning organization for Northwest Arkansas and a portion of southwest Missouri.