NW Arkansas planning for 2045 travel
Transportation effort includes more public transit to handle population growth
A comprehensive transportation plan addresses roads and traffic but also foresees more public transit and alternative ways to get around as the population grows in Northwest Arkansas.
The staff of the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission has been working on the 2045 Metropolitan Transportation Plan for the past year and a half. The plan will serve as a guide for how the area looks and functions with the projected population of about 1 million residents in 25 years in Benton and Washington counties.
Tim Conklin, assistant director at regional planning, said the region also will add a lot more jobs.
“So, with population and employment, it’s no surprise to see a significant traffic increase on our systems. Part of the scenario that we’ve looked at over the last 12 months is growing up versus out; so, increased density.”
Regional Planning’s Technical Advisory Committee has recommended that the full board approve the plan at today’s meeting.
Rolled into the 2045 plan is a recently approved public transportation plan. Connect Northwest Arkansas looks at every aspect of public transit in the region and makes recommendations to improve and increase coverage and service over the next decade. The plan envisions expanded routes and on-demand service in the cities along the Interstate 49 corridor.
An estimated three-quarters of the new population is expected to live within 10 miles either side of I-49 and 90% of the employment is expected to be within the corridor, according to regional planners.
PUBLIC TRANSIT
Joel Gardner, executive director at Ozark Regional Transit, said public transportation has to be one of the core conversations when talking about growth and development in an area like Northwest Arkansas.
“The transit development plan is actively part of the Metropolitan Transportation Plan, and it’s good to see that the two of them are integrated. It’s in there, and it’s what we’re going to rely on.”
Gardner said the region is not like a downtown Dallas or New York or Los Angeles because Northwest Arkansas is more spread out. That’s likely to change over the next 25 years, he said.
“We are going to see ourselves in that vertical stack of people in a very short period of time, 2045, where we’re going to have to be doing more than the standard eight stories or whatever the limitations are in some of the towns,” Gardner said. “And, that means population density is coming our way in a very short period of time, and we’d better be prepared for it.”
Gardner said it’s not unusual for cars to be stacked two lights deep at intersections on his morning commute to work in Springdale, and a growing population will only exacerbate the congestion.
“I’m not saying public transit is the cure-all, but every bus you throw out there that’s 40 feet long, you’re taking 40 cars off the road,” Gardner said. “We’re thinning out the traffic by putting a good public transit system on the roads.”
The plan talks about finding a dedicated, steady funding source for regional public transit systems over the next 25 years. Fully carrying out the plan for Ozark Regional Transit and Razorback Transit would require a voter-approved sales tax to pay for the approximately $42 million in all three phases of possible improvements, planners said.
A regional bike and pedestrian plan, including infrastructure, is part of the overall transportation plan.
“We talk about land use and transportation, housing and transportation costs, really trying to create a walkable, bikeable and transit-ready Northwest Arkansas,” Conklin said.
CONVENTIONAL CORRIDORS
The 2045 plan also addresses more conventional travel, looking at the region’s road system and planned improvements that would make Arkansas 112 a major north/ south corridor on the west side of the metropolitan area, similar to Arkansas 265 on the east.
The U.S. 412 northern bypass around Springdale will be completed, as will an access road to the Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport. Numerous roads will be improved and steps taken to better manage traffic congestion.
Bond program projects from the individual cities along the corridor were rolled into the 2045 plan.
Long-term goals of the 2045 transportation plan include increasing safety for people walking, biking, riding public transit and driving.
The plan considers ways to maximize the capacity and reliability of existing roads and how to maintain the whole transportation system.
Ways to protect the environment are included, like the Northwest Arkansas Open Space Plan and the Cave Springs Karst study, which looks at improving stormwater drainage management. Affordable housing and land use plans are also elements of the plan as is a chapter on environmental justice.