City takes ownership of portion of U.S. 62B

PRAIRIE GROVE — It took a while for city officials to finally receive written confirmation from the state, but a segment of U.S. 62B is now a city-owned street.

The Arkansas Highway Commission approved an order Feb. 22, 2022, for the state to hand over the highway west of Battlefield Park Road to the west end of town.

As part of the order, the state has agreed to provide $3.2 million in federal aid to overlay U.S. 62B and improve drainage between Pittman and Baggett streets in exchange for the city accepting ownership of about 3 miles of U.S. 62B. The city will match the state funds with $800,000 in local funds.

The city had been waiting months to receive the order, and it finally was emailed to former Mayor Sonny Hudson on Dec. 14.

Rex Vines, deputy director with the Arkansas Department of Transportation, told Hudson in a letter accompanying a copy of the order: “I am writing to inform you that this portion of Highway 62B has been officially removed from the State Highway System.”

Larry Oelrich, city administrative assistant, said the highway department likes giving away part of the highway, “obviously,” because it takes a section of road away from the state’s maintenance inventory.

“We like it because they are turning over money they wouldn’t spend otherwise on road improvements,” Oelrich said.

Oelrich said the $3.2 million has to be spent along the highway corridor that was given to Prairie Grove. It cannot be used for side streets. Most likely, all the money will be spent on overlay and drainage work from Mock Street through Pittman, Oelrich said.

Without the $3.2 million, a lot of work in the downtown area could not be done, Oelrich said.

“This drainage work has been needed since the highway was built. This gives us the money to fix some of these problems,” Oelrich said.

(NWA Democrat-Gazette/Lynn Kutter) The Arkansas Department of Transportation has installed this sign along U.S. 62B in Prairie Grove to show where state maintenance ends.