City, state discuss pesky stoplight
Bella Vista officials met with Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department Nov. 29 to discuss the stoplight at U.S. Highway 71 and Benton County Road 40 — specifically, who’s responsible for it and how to address it.
This meeting occurred because alderman and former Mayor Frank Anderson voiced concerns about hiring a traffic engineering firm to analyze the intersection and make suggestions to ease the flow of traffic, which is often backed up near this light, particularly during peak traffic hours.
Anderson said he believed the state officials were able to monitor and adjust these lights from Little Rock, meaning that hiring the engineering firm may not be necessary.
Steve Lawrence, District 9 traffic engineer for the AHTD, said that his department does not maintain or own signals, they only issue permits.
Bentonville owns the signal system at that intersection, although the control box is inside Bella Vista.
“As far as the situation there, I don’t know that that’s anyone’s fault,” Lawrence said.
This light, he said, is in an intersection that’s evolved, and traffic has continued to increase. Moreover, he said, when a bad situation arises and the light becomes inefficient, there is no good way to mitigate the situation, which will then continue to deteriorate.
Lawrence said that he thinks the traffic signal’s timing should be controlled by the city of Bella Vista, primarily because it’s at the end of a line of signals on U.S. Highway 71 that Bella Vista controls.
Chris Suneson, director of Community Development Services, said that adjustments to timing could improve the flow of traffic, though with the load being placed on that intersection, it’s unlikely that it will solve the problem.
The primary issue, he said, is poor flow of north-south traffic. Something as seemingly minor as adjusting the amount of time available for someone making a left turn, he said, could improve the situation.
Traffic engineers need to be hired, he said, because they can adjust the light’s timing according to its needs.
To alleviate the congestion, he said, would be a far more expensive endeavor.
“I don’t care how we get there,” Suneson said, “but here’s my bottom line: There is a traffic problem down on U.S. Highway 71.”
Bella Vista staff attorney Jason Kelley said he is concerned at the prospect of Bella Vista paying to hire a traffic engineering firm if this is not something that the city should ultimately be responsible for.
“We’ve been told we’ve got to engage an engineer at 20-something thousand dollars,” he said, “for purposes of timing that light which is not in the city.”
The light itself is outside of city limits, he said, but the control box for it is in city limits. This, he said, resulted in a verbal agreement, under which Bella Vista is responsible for the timing and Bentonville is responsible for maintaining the lights.
But the lack of a formal agreement, he said, has made it hard to keep track of what, exactly, everyone involved is responsible for.
“We need to get the parties at the table to get a written agreement,” he said. “We need to get the global memorandum of understanding.”
Anderson said he favors that. Having everything sorted out, ensuring all involved parties — Bella Vista, Bentonville and the the state — on the same page and with a common agreement of who does what, he said, can ensure problems get addressed.
“Well, I guess we’re at least a little further ahead,” said Mayor Peter Christie.