MODERN TIMES
by Art Hobson
ahobson@uark.edu
NWA Times 18 March
2006
REALITY CONFRONTS
NWA'S HIGHWAY ADDICTION, PART 1.
Northwest Arkansas's car culture, headed down the wrong road for decades, is about to face a reality check. Because automobile driving has far exceeded highway building, we'll soon be tied up in a regional traffic jam that will take at least a decade to begin to untangle, and will only be untangled by a radical change in direction.
In a nutshell, U.S. 71 through Bella Vista, U.S. 412 through Springdale, and I-540 are jammed, and any highway building we can afford between now and 2030 will not begin to reduce the congestion. In fact, NWA's population explosion and over-development will overwhelm any solutions that are likely to be available, and we can expect congestion to increase until at least 2030 no matter what we do.
Between now and 2030, nearly $2 billion is said to be needed for a Bella Vista bypass, a Springdale bypass, I-540 widening, and a big new "western beltway," but anticipated state and federal revenue will total only $336 million, one-sixth of what's needed. As another perspective on the magnitude of the problem across Arkansas, state highway commissioner Jonathan Barnett says Arkansas has $16 billion in highway needs over the next ten years, but will have only $4 billion in funding.
Let's look first at the Bella Vista bypass. Rush hour traffic through Bella Vista, along with truck traffic at all hours, has been a nightmare for years, even decades. To relieve these problems, the 20-mile Bella Vista bypass from U.S. 71 south of Bella Vista to U.S. 71 in Pineville, Missouri, was approved by Congress in 2001. At a projected cost of $193 million, this road comes in at a cool $10 million per mile. To scrape this kind of cash together, Congress proposed that the bypass be established as a toll road. But because trucking and petroleum interests in Arkansas and Missouri object to tolls, the project has remained on the to-do list of both states with no construction yet in sight.
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's "Gridlock Guru" points out that the new Lowe's store under construction in Bella Vista will only compound the problem. And he points out that there's some question about whether the bypass, if it's ever built, will relieve much congestion, because most of the vehicles appear to be local traffic that will not use the bypass. The new Lowe's will certainly contribute to local traffic, as big box stores have a way of doing.
Next, let's look the Springdale bypass. Traffic through the visually painful sprawl that lines U.S. 412 through Springdale has been congested for decades. Having reached crisis proportions in 1994, highway addicts proposed their all-purpose solution: more asphalt, specifically a bypass around Springdale to be completed by 2005. Well, 2005 has now come and gone, and the start (not to mention completion) of construction is not yet in sight.
A quick comparison of the knot of traffic at the intersection of 412 and U.S. 71 in Springdale, with the much lighter traffic on 412 west of Tontitown, is convincing evidence that most of the congestion on 412 in Springdale is generated by Springdale itself, which means a bypass around Springdale won't really solve the problem. Highways "consume themselves" when sprawl begins lining them, because the car-oriented sprawl attracts new traffic and so the road becomes congested. It's called "traffic generation." The U.S. 412 problem arises from excess driving by Springdale residents. But that line of thinking seems to be too far outside the box for the geniuses who propose more roads as the solution for everything.
This new road will be a long time coming, if it ever comes at all. The 20-mile $350 million project will be divided into two halves: first, a western half connecting 412 with I-540 north of Springdale, and then an eastern half from I-540 back to 412 east of Springdale. Taxpayers will pay a shocking $118 million for the 7-mile western half, or $19 million per mile, partly because of the high cost of acquiring land in the sprawling development around Springdale.
But the real shocker is that the western half is not planned for completion until 2030. Yes, you read that correctly: Springdale might have half of its bypass by 2030. Furthermore, the final $80 million for the western half was recently eliminated from the long-range plans for 2016-2030 in favor of other road projects, which means that the first half of the bypass is now put off into the indefinite future. As regional transportation planner John McClarty put it, "People are saying we can't dump every penny we have into the Springdale bypass."
Nobody's even started thinking yet about the eastern half. Traffic will have little reason to use half of a bypass. But if and when the "half bypass" is finished, it will be a fine magnet for more sprawl and more traffic.
It turns out that this western half of the bypass will itself be built in three segments. The state highway department has not yet set a construction schedule for the first of these segments--the first one-third of the first half of the awaited bypass. Barnett opines that planners "have a long way to go" to get it built, noting that "the project at this point is fairly overwhelming. We obviously don't have the money."
What's obvious is that the Northwest Arkansas car culture is reaching a dead end.