Highway 70 lane closings planned
Construction work on Highway 70 in Garland County will require lane closures this week, according to the newly renamed Arkansas Department of Transportation.
On Thursday and Friday, crews will install barrier walls and the eastbound lane will be closed between Scenic Ridge Road and Summit Ridge Road for about two hours a day between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m., weather permitting.
Flagging operations will control traffic within the work zones. Motorists are encouraged to consider alternate routes during construction, including Highway 270. The public is advised to be cautious when traveling in the work zone at reduced speeds, and should note speeding fines double within the work zone.
The $78.6 million project, a part of the Connecting Arkansas Program, includes widening
17.5 miles of Highway 70 east from Interstate 30 in Benton (Exit 111) west to the interchange with Highway 70-Business in Hot Springs (Exit 6). The highway is being widened to two lanes in each direction with a continuous center turn lane. The project is anticipated to be complete in late 2018.
The Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department was renamed the Arkansas Department of Transportation on Monday, in accordance with Senate Bill 589, now Act
707 of 2017.
The 128-page bill was a recommendation of the Legislative Task Force on Intermodal Transportation and Commerce; the length of the bill was the result of changing the name of the Department in every location within the Arkansas Code, according to a news release earlier this week from ArDOT.
Among its charges, the Task Force considered combining the Arkansas Department of Aeronautics and the Arkansas Waterways Commission with the Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department to become the Arkansas Department of Transportation. Although the task force recommended the department not take in the Arkansas Aeronautics Department and the Arkansas Waterways Commission, it did recommend changing the name of the Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department.
The purpose of the name change was to bring the department into the mainstream of the vast majority of transportation entities; align the department with specific language in federal law that refers to the various “Departments of Transportation”; and identify the department as the point of contact for intermodal development in coordination with Aeronautics and Waterways, for purposes of economic development.
The Arkansas Highway Department was separated from the State Department of Lands in 1929. It remained a part of the agency until 1977, when the name was changed to the Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department.