Authority applying for grants for 112 side path

Regional planners, meeting as the Northwest Arkansas Regional Mobility Authority, approved a resolution Wednesday to apply for federal grant money to help pay for a 12-foot bike and pedestrian side path along Arkansas 112 so it will be included as part of the proposed widening and other planned corridor improvements.

The path, separated from the roadway, would run along about 16.7 miles of Arkansas 112 between Fayetteville and Bentonville.

The Regional Mobility Authority is applying for three grants amounting to about $1.5 million to help pay for sections of the side path.

The Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission could not apply for the grant money, and the highway department could not accept the money, but the Regional Mobility Authority can apply.

The grants would be through the Federal Transportation Alternatives Program at 80% federal participation and 20% local or state match. The resolution requests the highway department make the required 20% nonfederal match with state funds.

The Arkansas Department of Transportation, which will do the work on the project, does not pay for side paths on their projects, but regional planners wanted it included.

“The key is the grant will go to the project, ARDOT will match the required funds with state funds, and they’ll carry out the project,” said Tim Conklin, assistant director at Regional Planning. “The Regional Mobility Authority is not actually building that project out on Arkansas 112. They’re just seeking funding to give to ARDOT because ARDOT currently is saying, based on their 2005 policy, that that’s what we have to pay for.”

The Transportation Department’s policy isn’t to pay for shared-use, off-street paths along but separate from highways. The department considers side paths to be more recreational in nature than a part of the state’s transportation system. It will pay for on-street bike lanes.

Regional planners in January 2019 agreed to move forward with a vision for Arkansas 112 as a four-lane, north-south corridor with managed access. The Transportation Department is ultimately responsible for doing the design and work.

A 2015 study of Arkansas 112 tentatively recommended four lanes from Fayetteville to Bentonville, widening and straightening several curves and bypassing at least one town, Cave Springs.

Bentonville and Fayetteville already have implemented raised medians, turn lanes, limited curb cuts, signal spacing and other access management strategies on portions of the road.

The Regional Mobility Authority last met in May 2021.