Officials Wait On Highway 170 Study

FARMINGTON — City and school officials are still waiting after more than three years for the results of a traffic study of Highway 170 by the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department.

The department started the study about 3½ years ago at the request of city and school officials, who have expressed concerns on numerous occasions about the narrow highway and its ability to handle increased traffic from vehicles and school buses at the future high school.

The study is looking at existing conditions and how a new high school would impact traffic if no improvements are made to the highway and how the highway would handle traffic if improvements are made. The study includes all of Highway 170, from U.S. 62 in Farmington to U.S. 62 in Prairie Grove.

Chad Adams, district engineer, on Thursday said it is possible that the study may be considered at the Arkansas Highway Commission’s Oct. 30 meeting.

“If the report is available, the commission will review it,” Adams said.

If the commission decides to make improvements to the highway based on the report, the earliest that any money would be available is 2017, Adams said.

“Money is already delegated through 2016,” Adams said. “And it still would be in competition with other projects (for any money).”

Mayor Ernie Penn said a traffic study is fine but “it boils down to the fact that the road is insufficient.”

He pointed out that Highway 170 basically has not changed since he rode his bike on it when he was eight years old.

Highway 170 services many residences, the golf course and drivers who use the road as an alternative to U.S. 62. Farmington’s new high school also will be located on Highway 170. Phase 1 is scheduled to be finished in January 2015 and phase 2, which includes classroom space, could be finished within about four years.

The city is at the mercy of the state because the road is a state highway and maintained by the highway department but Penn said city officials are doing what they can to encourage improvements to the road. Penn has met with state representatives and been in contact with the highway commissioner from this area.

Melissa McCarville, city business manager, said the city is asking questions to determine how to get money to improve the highway in the next funding cycle.

Bryan Law, school superintendent, said he also is concerned about some of the “S” curves on Highway 170. He said school officials will do what they can to urge the highway commission to appropriate money to improve the highway by time the second phase is finished.

John Spears, planning engineer with the highway department, is working on the Highway 170 study and he said the study is in the final review stages. Spears said it has taken so long because the highway department is shortstaffed and as other priorities came up, the study was placed on the back burner.