The Arkansas Department of Transportation expects to complete the $79.3 million widening of U.S. Highway 67/167 from Vandenberg Boulevard in Jacksonville to state Highway 5 near Cabot in the first quarter of next year.
Work on that 4.6-mile section began in January 2017. The contractor is Weaver Bailey Contractors of El Paso.
This project is one of two in Jacksonville that will widen the highway to six lanes, or three in each direction. It follows the replacement of the Main Street and Redmond Road overpasses, which cost $41.9 million.
Construction crews won’t be out of the area until 2023, according to Danny Straessle, a department spokesman.
The next project will be widening the 2.5 miles between Main Street and Vandenberg. The department skipped that section to allow for utility relocation and will begin working on it in 2020, Straessle said. The department is working on a cost estimate, he added.
The widening of both sections is part of the $1.8 billion Connecting Arkansas Program, supported by a 10-year, 0.5 percent sales tax the state’s voters approved in 2012.
The overpass replacements were not part of Connecting Arkansas and were funded by the state’s gasoline tax.
Straessle said the Jacksonville projects have been challenging because of traffic is heavy is the area. Accidents have occurred during construction too, and speeding drivers are common.
“The price of progress is a lot of patience. We know some folks have lost their patience over this and others see the ultimate product that we’re trying to achieve,” Straessle said. “Once it’s all said and done, it’ll be a memory and folks should be very appreciative of what we’ve got out there. And it will be quite an enjoyable commute from Cabot, Austin and Beebe down to central Arkansas.”
Jacksonville Mayor Gary Fletcher said some local businesses have taken a hit because continuing construction discourages customers from coming in. But, he said, the city is “primed for big-time growth” that will be helped along by a safer commute.
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The biggest impact of the project will be the frontage roads becoming one-way thoroughfares, he added.
Some businesses are concerned about the change causing them to lose drive-by customers, and others on John Harden Drive will lose parking to the widening, the mayor said.
However, Fletcher recalled businesses having similar concerns about Warden Road near McCain Mall in North Little Rock before it became a one-way road. He noted that businesses there are thriving.
The mayor is also looking forward to Highway 67/167 becoming Interstate 57, but there isn’t a timeline or funding for that yet.
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