Fayetteville council looks at options for intersection

FAYETTEVILLE — One of the more notorious intersections in Fayetteville will get a do-over.

The City Council’s Transportation Committee recently reviewed concepts for changes to Millsap Road and North College Avenue. The city plans to use money from a transportation bond issue voters approved in 2019 to redesign and overhaul the intersection.

The intersection has a single lane for cars heading east on Millsap or trying to turn left to go north on College. A second eastbound lane on Millsap allows cars to turn right onto College and head south. A single lane heads west on Millsap.

The lanes are misaligned on the east side of Millsap from the lanes on the other side of College Avenue. Front Street runs north-south right into Millsap, feet away from the intersection. Cars often line up awkwardly, especially if they’re trying to turn left and go south onto College Avenue.

The city hopes to improve traffic flow on Millsap, and as a result, increase the amount of time the light stays green on College Avenue, said Chris Brown, the city’s public works director. More green time at that intersection should help traffic move out of a problematic area on North College going through the Rolling Hills Drive, Harold Street, Longview Street and Masonic Drive intersections south of Millsap, he said.

“I think everybody who’s been on College Avenue knows that by the time you get to Rolling Hills, it starts to get very congested. And this intersection is one of the worst,” he said.

MAKING PLANS

An Arkansas Department of Transportation map does not have traffic counts at the Millsap Road and North College Avenue intersection. However, it shows 29,000 cars per day move past College and Harold Street, about one-third of a mile south.

There have been 13 car accidents at Millsap Road and College Avenue this year, according to Sgt. Anthony Murphy with Fayetteville police. There were 17 last year, he said.

Comparatively, there have been more accidents this year at that intersection than at Joyce Boulevard and College Avenue, which has 35,000 cars per day moving through it. The Joyce and College intersection has had 10 accidents this year.

The Millsap and College intersection is one of the worst in the city as far as accidents, Murphy said.

In July, the City Council approved a $300,000 contract with engineering firm Burns & McDonnell in Kansas City, Mo., to redesign the intersection.

The city wants to add a second turn lane on Millsap Road for cars heading east to turn left onto North College Avenue. The right-turn lane to go south on College will remain, as will a single lane to stay east on Millsap.

Cars heading west on Millsap will have their own left-turn lane to go south on College. The lanes on Millsap also will be realigned to match up both sides at the intersection.

Pedestrians will be able to walk across all four sections of the intersection with crosswalks that have buttons and lights to indicate when to walk.

The lanes on North College Avenue will stay the same, except cars coming from the Fulbright Expressway north of the intersection will have a little more room to line up at the light heading south, Brown said.

As a second part of the project, the city plans to cut off Front Street where it meets the driveway to Bank of Arkansas. Cars coming from the north will instead be able to use a street that is currently a private drive off Sain Street to go south and get on Millsap Road. The private drive will become a city street and will be widened and extended to meet Millsap, Brown said. The extension will lie between the Slim Chickens office to the west and Christian Life Cathedral to the east.

The University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, which has its Uptown Campus south of Sain Street, and the church own the property where the extension would run, and both are on board for the change, Brown said. Razorback Transit buses have a particularly difficult time coming from the Uptown Campus, down Front Street and south to College Avenue with such little room to maneuver, he said. Church members also will have an additional way to get in and out.

RAISING CANE’S

Doyle Yates, managing broker with Coldwell Banker Harris McHaney & Faucette, a real estate company with its office northwest of the intersection, said traffic backs up on Millsap Road every day when he comes to work.

Yates said he hopes the redesign will improve east-west traffic flow on Millsap. However, the biggest issue is traffic coming off College Avenue heading onto Millsap. Cars all too frequently stop in the middle of the street, not far from the intersection, to turn into the only entrance at Raising Cane’s restaurant at the southwest corner, he said. Cars heading east on Millsap also back up trying to turn left, go straight or into Raising Cane’s, he said.

“This being a real estate office, there are 80 agents here who come and go multiple times a day,” Yates said. “They’re not just arriving at work in the morning and going home in the afternoon. They fight that constantly.”

Brown said the current conceptual drawing does not address the Raising Cane’s entrance. However, the city will collect feedback from nearby property owners on the intersection redesign, he said.

Sarah Bunch, a City Council member who is chairwoman of the Transportation Committee, used to work at Coldwell Banker and served on the Planning Commission that approved the Raising Cane’s plan with the entrance. At the time, the commission’s hands were tied because the plan met all of the city’s requirements, she said.

Bunch said she knows the difficulty of that intersection all too well, both through personal experience and complaints from constituents. She said she thinks the project, plus others, will help the overall traffic flow in the area.

The city also is planning to extend Sain Street to Vantage Drive northeast of the intersection. In addition, the city has a plan to create a parallel route east of College Avenue running north-south from the extended street between Sain Street and Millsap Road.

“I’m thinking about the big picture from Rolling Hills to this intersection and everything,” Bunch said. “I think it’s going to be a whole lot better over there for everyone.”

Estimated cost on the intersection project is $4 million, Brown said. Construction could start late next year at the earliest. If the city seeks federal aid to complete the project, construction likely would start in late 2023, he said.

Brown estimated a 12- to 15-month time frame to finish the project.