Bid let for second section of the Bella Vista Bypass

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

— State highway officials have a bid in hand to build a second section of the Bella Vista Bypass.

Kolb Grading of St. Charles, Mo., was the apparent low bidder at $13.5 million for the 2.4-mile part of the project. The section will connect phase one, which is under construction at Hiwasse, with Benton County 34, also known as Rocky Dell Hollow Road.

“We’re not hoping anymore. We’re not dreaminganymore,” said Dick Trammel, highway commissioner. “We’re making it a reality.”

The contract calls for two lanes, grading and structures, as well as the base and paving, according to Glenn Bolick, spokesman for the Highway and Transportation Department. Once completed, the section will immediately open to traffic.

The section originally was to be only grading and structures to the state line, leaving base and paving to be done later, Bolick said.

The next phase of the project to be bid will be from Benton County 34 to the state line.

Trammel said to finish the bypass faster, Arkansas voters need to step up in November and pass a proposed half-cent sales tax for highway construction. The Highway Department has listed the bypass as a priority project in Northwest Arkansas if the tax is approved.

Construction on the first three-mile section bypassing Hiwasse began in July. The bid for that section was $19.8 million and included a couple of bridges, some road reconstruction and other structures. Some money came from $10 million in federal stimulus money.

The project is designed to relieve traffic congestion on U.S. 71 through Bella Vista. It will reconnect with the highway in Missouri.

The bypass is being built with only two lanes for now. When complete, it will be an 18.9-mile section of Interstate 49. The bypass will go from Bentonville to south of Pineville, Mo.

About 14 miles are in Arkansas and are expected to cost $268 million. The adjoining section in Missouri is expected to cost about $66 million. The interstate will eventually connect New Orleansand Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Missouri has acquired some right of way but has not started building its five-mile section of the highway between Pineville and the state line because they’re waiting on Arkansas to get the bypass to the state line.

Interstate 49 is expected to be a major north-south corridor linking ports in New Orleans, Houston and other Southern cities with markets in theMidwest and Canada. Expansion of the Panama Canal is expected to increase freight entering the country from ports in the South and Southeast.

Traffic on the U.S. 71 corridor between Kansas City and Joplin, Mo., consists of 30 percent trucks, according to the Missouri Department of Transportation.

The Bella Vista bid was one of several projects state Highway and Transportation Department opened May 2 in Little Rock.

News, Pages 1 on 05/09/2012