Springdale Committee Approves Interchange Funding
Last updated Tuesday, August 19, 2008 10:43 PM CDT in News
By Steve Caraway
The Morning News
SPRINGDALE - An interchange at Interstate 540 and Don Tyson Parkway is on the fast track for construction.
The City Council Capital Improvement Program Committee approved a resolution Tuesday moving $5 million per year for five years from the Capital Improvement fund to pay for the exchange. The exchange is a critical part of the southwest Springdale area by providing interstate access to Arvest Ballpark, according to officials.
The Don Tyson Parkway links all the major north-south streets in the city, said Mayor Jerre Van Hoose.
"Development of that area is essential to the economic growth of the city," Van Hoose said. "Growth would broaden the city's tax base."
Committing the money now would show developers the city is serious about building the interchange, Van Hoose said.
The committee forwarded the resolution to the council and it should be up for a council vote on Aug. 26 during the next scheduled council meeting.
The council in 2005 voted to set aside $5 million per year to cover cost overruns in the street bond program. Construction Dynamics Group, the company managing the street bond program, calculated only $6.3 million of the reserved $25 million would be needed to complete the street bond building program that includes the construction of three east-west corridors through the city.
The reserve money, about $18.7 million, would come close to covering the preliminary cost estimate for the interchange of $20 million.
"I look at this as completing the southern corridor," said Alderman Rick Evans. "It should have been included in the street bond program."
The interchange would be eligible for state or federal funding if money became available, Evans said.
In other action, the committee voted to send to the full council with a recommendation for approval proposals to:
• Add up to $15,000 to the contract for Luther George Grove Street Park to pay for an hourly inspector.
• Widen sidewalks along the central corridor that have not been built from 5 feet to at least 8 feet. Some sections would go to 10 feet at a cost of $100,000. The widened sidewalk would be part of the city's trail system and possibly be eligible for a matching grant from the Walton Foundation.
• Spend $17,000 for bleachers at a Cal Ripken baseball field at Tyson Park. The bleachers would complement more than $200,000 scheduled to be spent by the Springdale Kiwanis club on Tyson baseball fields.
• Spend $171,000 to replace the police department's special response team vehicle and add equipment. The present vehicle is a refurbished bread truck with almost 300,000 miles.
The committee also voted to precede with plans to:
• Send a design for traffic signals at the intersection of Old Missouri Road and Ford Avenue to the state for approval.
• Continue negotiations with the State Department of Correction for a building that would house the Springdale jail and an expanded work-release program. The Department of Correction would run the jail.
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ProudVetHogFan wrote on Aug 20, 2008 7:42 AM: