Fayetteville road project work set to begin after years of delay

FAYETTEVILLE — Work on Zion Road in Fayetteville is about to begin after years of delay.

The City Council last week OK’d a pair of contracts for construction along the street from Vantage Drive to Crossover Road. One contract hires a design consultant to oversee the work at an hourly rate, up to $85,894.

The other pays for the work itself, a $6.8 million contract with Tri Star Contractors in Siloam Springs.

The project requires relocating power and internet lines, and some of that work has been ongoing, City Engineer Chris Brown said. A significant amount of water and sewer line relocation work also is required. That work is included in the construction contract, he said.

Drivers should start noticing the work in about a month, Brown said. The project has a 17-month time frame.

The city included the project in its 2006 transportation bond program. The stretch between College Avenue and Vantage Drive was completed in 2008. The recession hit around then, and city administrators prioritized getting as many other smaller transportation projects done as they could because bid prices had gone down, Brown said.

The City Council gave the green light to finish Zion Road in 2013. Design work wrapped in 2015, but, by then, the 2006 bond money had run out.

The 2019 bond referendum voters approved included $4.9 million to finish the project.

Close to $4.4 million is coming from the transportation bond fund. Money for the water and sewer line relocation work is coming from the city’s capital fund for water and sewer projects. The cost is an additional $2.4 million.

Another $373,294 is coming from the transportation fund to cover land acquisition, extra design work, phase services, materials testing and any contingency expenses. That brings the total budget for the project from the transportation bond fund to nearly $4.8 million.

Zion is akin to an old country road, Brown said. Most of it has two lanes, deep ditches, no sidewalks or bicycle lanes and sharp curves. The grade goes up and down like a roller coaster, he said.

“Basically, we’re bringing lot of that section up to city standards,” he said.

Drivers can expect to see 10-foot-wide driving lanes in each direction with a 10-foot-wide center lane. A 6-foot-wide sidewalk separated from traffic will go on the south side, with a 10-foot-wide paved trail separated from traffic on the north side.

Overall, the street will widen a few feet to 30 feet, Brown said.

The alignment will change, and grades will be flattened out, he said. A roundabout is planned at the intersection with Old Missouri Road.