DECATUR — The Benton County Quorum Court voted Feb. 24 to appropriate $40,000 in the Road Department budget to buy 10 acres in Decatur for the planned west-side road yard.
The proposed site for the road yard will be inside the Decatur city limits off of Arkansas Highway 102 West on Spavinaw Street, according to Mayor Charles Linam.
When the yard is completed, the county road department will move the equipment for the northwest and southwest road division to the Decatur site so employees will be closer to the work they are performing every day, County Judge Bob Clinard stated in an e-mail.
Clinard rejected a site on Bethlehem Road as unsafe and told the Quorum Court’s finance committee last month that the 10 acres, owned by Peterson Farms, better fits the county’s needs. The asking price for the land is $4,000 an acre, he said.
The proposed road department yard will include a maintenance building, fueling station, storage sheds, truck wash area, culvert storage area, about 15 road graders, dump trucks, salt bins, sand bins and other equipment, Clinard wrote.
“The site was chosen because it allows our equipment to enter Arkansas Highway 59 safely at a reduced speed zone area and it has all the utilities available, such as water, sewer, natural gas and electricity,” Clinard wrote.
The road yard will not be visible from the road, but it will offer the county the advantage of highway access, Linam said.
Clinard said he needs to get the final report from the architect and engineer to make sure the site doesn’t have any issues that would prevent it from being used for the intended purpose.
“When I have that in hand, we will purchase the property and begin the design and construction phase,” he wrote.
If all goes well, construction on the project should begin in June and be completed by October, according to Clinard.
News, Pages 1 on 03/02/2011