Judge Announces Satellite Road Facility For Gravette Area

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Benton County officials hope to have a satellite road department openedby the end of the year.

The new road department location will be on Bethlehem Road, a quarter mile east of Arkansas 59 between Gravette and Decatur. The location will serve as the county’s base for Road Department operations on the west side of the county, county administrator Greg Hines said.

Hines said road crews began hauling fill dirt to the location last week and site plans are expected from Hight-Jackson Associates.

Hines was not sure how long it will take for architects to complete the plans.

The site will have a storage yard and a building for housing road equipment, Hines said, noting the Gravette location will be the second satellite department. The other is in Garfield.

“The Garfield location is just a smashing success in terms of logistics,” Hines said.

Decentralizing the Road Department means workers are able to get to roads on the eastern and western sides of the county faster. The satellite offices also make the department moreefficient because crews spend less time hauling equipment and material and more time working.

The Garfield Road Department, located behind the NEBCO Fire Department on Wimpy Jones Road, was “extremely helpful during the snow this year. Just the fact that the material was stored in those areas was a big help,” Hines said.

Decatur Mayor Bill Montgomery said although he had not heard of the satellite site before last Monday, he thought it was a good move.

“It is going to be great for the west side of the county to have the county road guys out here monitoring our roads,” he said. “Anything that can help the people out on the west side with their roads is going tobe a great thing.”

The county has one convenience center in Bentonville. The center provides residents with a way to dispose of bulky household waste not normally accepted by a trash collector. It is open from 8 a.m. to noon on the first and third Saturdays of the month.

Hines said he expects to have the new satellite road department in Gravette opened by the end of this year. The site is budgeted to cost about $250,000, Hines said.

News, Pages 9 on 04/07/2010