Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Paving slows Decatur traffic
DECATUR — It has been nearly a month since the Arkansas Department of Transportation began its Arkansas 59 Improvement Project.
With the resurfacing project marching toward the Missouri border, travelers found themselves waiting in long lines as traffic was reduced to a single lane.
This time, Decatur was the scene of the slowdown as paving equipment and crews raced to complete the 2-inch overlay project in the small Northwest Arkansas town before the weekend.
After completing the section of Arkansas 59 between Gentry and Decatur, the paving crew from Hutchens Construction, the Arkansas Department of Transportation contractor, began the paving project at the corner of Main Street (Arkansas 59) and Hill Avenue on Aug. 10. Within a day, the crew completed both lanes all the way to the Decatur train depot.
The next day, Hutchens picked up where they left off, beginning the paving of the downtown area to Jo Avenue near the overpass. The paving crew began in the northbound lane, working toward the fourway stoplight at Main Street and Roller Avenue.
At 11:30 a.m, the caravan reached the four-way light when it ran into a problem. New asphalt is very soft and brittle and easily torn up. so any traffic running west along Roller Avenue was blocked and had to be turned back. One vehicle was unable to back up, a semitrailer. The three-vehicle latch-up was halfway through the intersection when one of the supervisors came up with a plan.
The dump truck and conveyance machine separated and moved out of the intersection and stopped in front of the Gallery Cafe. The asphalt machine stopped just short of the intersection. This split allowed the long truck to turn north and continue on its way.
When the truck cleared the intersection, the asphalt layer continued across the intersection and hooked back up with the conveyor-truck duo. Now the intersection going westbound was blocked for over two hours while rolling machines continued to pack the soft asphalt material. This meant that anyone driving down Roller Avenue east was blocked and forced to turn back and find an alternate route.
This scene played out for the remainder of the day and into the next until the downtown area to Jo Avenue was completed Thursday afternoon. But Friday was a different story.
From Jo Avenue, the convoy continued north toward Gravette. Once again, the day was filled with traffic jams which in essence cut east Decatur from the west. At one point during the Friday afternoon rush, northbound traffic was backed up from Jo through the downtown area and back to the old EZ Mart to the south. All major roads in Decatur were blocked with drivers having to wait 15 minutes or more to get across to either Third Street, Roller Avenue, and North Main Street past the overpass.
The project continues to march toward the Missouri border and is expected to be completed within the month. Drivers should expect continued delays along Arkansas 59 from Decatur to Gravette and beyond. Drivers also need to be mindful of workers and vehicles within the construction zone. Fines are doubled for drivers who violate construction zone laws.