City to buy piece of land needed for improvements

BENTONVILLE — The city will buy a parcel of land needed in connection with drainage improvements.

The City Council on Tuesday night unanimously approved spending $139,307 to purchase land for the Northwest Ninth and D streets drainage project.

The Bentonville Wesleyan Nazarene Church Advisory Board voted in August to accept the city’s offer for the property at the southwest corner at Fifth and D streets, according to a letter from pastor Melvin Waters.

Cody Vaughn, city staff engineer, said the area is roughly half an acre.

Work will extend the collection system to Northwest Ninth Street and include curb and gutters. The project schedule shows a start date of Oct. 9 and a finish date of July 5, 2024. The contractor is Crossland Heavy Contractors, according to the webpage bentonvillebond.com. A status update was posted Sept. 15.

The project is part of a $266 million bond for capital projects and refinancing voters approved in April 2021. Voters extended a 1-cent sales tax originally approved in 2003 to repay the bonds. The bond will pay for $19.75 million in drainage improvements.

There were 25 proposed projects in the bond to reduce flooding and provide for drainage control, according to the city.

Drainage will be improved for over 500 homes, flooding of roadways will be reduced and infrastructure will be designed to provide drainage for future development. The projects were selected from drainage studies, 311 concerns and known flooding issues, according to bentonvillebond. com.

The City Council also approved in an 8-0 vote a budget adjustment to recognize a Surface Transportation Block Grant for design services for the Southwest Regional Airport Boulevard/South Vaughn Road intersection improvement project.

The 80% Federal reimbursement is $500,000 with a 20% city match of $125,000 for a total of $625,000. The contract with the Garver engineering firm is for $613,416, according to City Council documents.

Southwest Regional Airport Boulevard is also known as Arkansas 12 and South Vaughn as Arkansas 279.

The engineering/survey work is needed to develop construction plans and do an environmental assessment. Garver will assess the environmental portion, locate utilities and begin survey work, then design a solution to help traffic navigate the intersection, said Dennis Birge, city transportation director.

A roundabout that would connect Southwest Regional Airport Boulevard, South Vaughn Road and Vaughn Road to the west is being analyzed, but nothing has been settled. The Arkansas Department of Transportation will have review and approval on any improvements, Birge said.

The design phase will run through this year, and utility relocation and right-of-way acquisitions, if needed, would run into next year with construction starting in late 2025, Birge said.

With the growth Bentonville has had to the southwest combined with increased traffic at Northwest Arkansas National Airport and more truck traffic, it is time for the intersection to see improvements, Birge said.