Study: Tunnel not financially feasible for expressway

The Arkansas Department of Transportation’s tunnel feasibility study has determined it is more cost effective to move a ridge line standing astride of the proposed route for the King Expressway extension than to bore through it.

Department spokesman Danny Straessle said the study determined the cut-and-fill method made the most financial sense for threading the 5.16mile, two-lane extension through the ridge line in the Promise Land Drive area north of the Highway 70 east interchange. The proposed route will also cross Mill Creek Road en route to the junction at highways 5 and 7.

Straessle said the department estimates more than a million cubic yards of soil will have to be cut from the ridge line.

The department is planning to present a preliminary design for the expressway project at a public meeting early next year. The proposed right of way will be part of the presentation.

“We do not have any of the right of way acquired right now,” Straessle said. “We’re doing some preliminary design work and cost estimates, so we can go to the public and say here is the proposed alignment and the right of way impact we anticipate.”

He said the department plans on letting bids for the construction phase of the project in the 2019 State Transportation Improvement Program year, which begins in July. Garland County is committed to a $25 million share of the construction costs and $30 million for the total project.

The department has estimated the project will cost more than $60 million and has pledged that the county’s obligation won’t exceed $30 million. The county has already committed $2 million of its $5 million share for project development and expects to be invoiced for the balance next year.

The $54.6 million bond issue voters approved in June 2016 is paying for the county’s cost share. The bonds are secured by a five-eighths cent sales tax that will sunset when the debt is retired.

County road projects

Four county- maintained roads selected by County Judge Rick Davis, with input from B&F Engineering Inc., for improve- ments will be ready for paving by next spring.

B&F President James Montgomery said soft spots in the bases of Cedar Glade Road, Turkey Trot Lane, Blacksnake Road and Trooper Drive are being cut out and refilled in the expectation that paving will start next spring. The county hired the local engineering firm to oversee projects paid for from the county’s $12.7 million share of the bond proceeds. B&F is also coordinating with the transportation department on the expressway extension.

The improvements include drainage, a hot-mix overlay and widening to 22 feet. Davis said most county roads are 18 to 19 feet wide and can be expanded 2 feet on either side without going beyond the county’s right of way, which is generally 40 feet.

The improvements on Turkey Trot will go from Cedar Glades to Blacksnake Road. Cedar Glade’s improvements will span from Highway 227 to Wildcat Road, including adding guard rails and signage to the bridge over Bull Bayou.

Blacksnake will be improved from Turkey Trot Lane to Highway 227, and the entire length of Trooper Drive in Mid-America Industrial Park will be widened and overlaid.

Montgomery said the county has contracted Burkhalter Technologies in North Little Rock to do the work.

Improvements to Majes- tic Lodge and Thornton Ferry roads are part of the second bid package the county is preparing. Majestic Lodge will be widened and overlaid from Airport Road to Hill Wheatley Park. Montgomery said the improvements will include drainage upgrades and possibly curbs and sidewalks.

An overlay on Springwood Road is also expected to be part of the project.

Thornton Ferry improvements will run from Albert Pike Road to Anderson Street and include curbs and sidewalks. Montgomery said the project will tie into the transportation department job on Albert Pike. The department plans widening more than 3 miles from the Mountain Pine junction west to the Lake Hamilton bridge.

Montgomery said the bridge improvement bid package is tentatively scheduled to be let by the spring. DeArmon Bridge over Mill Creek will be replaced, as will the low-water bridge on Danville Road over the Lockett Creek tributary near Pitchercane Road.

The Danville Road bridge over Lockett Creek will be widened by about 8 feet, as will the Amity Road bridge over Rush Fork Creek. The bridge over White Oak Creek on Farr Shores Drive will also be replaced.

The county has set aside $1.9 million from its $12.7 million share to partner with the state and Hot Springs on im- provements to the expressway’s Airport Road interchange. Its 37,000 vehicle daily average traffic count makes it the busiest intersection in the county, officials have said.

The set aside is also earmarked for a city-county-state partnership for traffic signals at the Weston Road intersections at Albert Pike and Airport.

The city and county have both committed $50,000 from their bond proceed shares for a study of the expressway intersections at Airport, Albert Pike, Higdon Ferry Road and Central Avenue. The study will help determine a cost estimate for the Airport-expressway improvements, to which the city has also committed $1.9 million.