GRIDLOCK GURU : No plans to smooth rail crossing
Posted on Friday, August 15, 2008
New, black asphalt with unsmeared, white and yellow stripes just looks good against a green backdrop of trees.
That’s true for Gregg Avenue in Fayetteville.
It’s too bad there’s one little piece of the area that isn’t so new, and Mary Jo Harvey would like to have it fixed pronto.
The Guru lets Harvey speak up first about the Fayetteville traffic matter, then he goes to Springdale to drive down soggy West End Street.
Question: “The longawaited completion of Gregg Avenue in Fayetteville seems a fact, and we are delighted with the signal at Drake Street,” writes Harvey, who lives in Fayetteville. “Except somehow the area between the railroad tracks on Drake did not get repaved. Consequently, drivers are forced to traverse them slowly which negates any benefit from the new paving and signal light. Come take a look. How about getting whoever is responsible to finish the job ?” Answer: The $ 6. 5 million project to widen Gregg to four lanes and install a traffic light at Drake didn’t include money to repave the small area between the tracks, said Joe Shipman, the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department’s district engineer.
The Guru checked it out. It’s a bit rough, and certainly not as smooth as the new Drake. He’s seen worse, though.
Shipman said it’s the responsibility of the Arkansas & Missouri Railroad to resurface between the tracks. Ron Sparks, the railroad’s safety guy and spokesman, said there are no plans to pave the area between the tracks.
“It’s done,” Sparks said.
Q: “You’ve helped solve traffic problems for many people over the years, including one for me a couple of years ago,” writes Carol Schultz of Springdale. “I’m asking your help again with the inexcusable situation at the intersection at Emma Avenue and West End Street in Springdale.
“ It’s been many months since the intersection was torn up for ‘improvements,’ but it’s worse now than ever. The intersection has stop signs, but even crawling through it after a stop is bone-jarring.
“ There was so much standing water after all the rain last week that I couldn’t tell if there was actually pavement under the water or perhaps a big, deep hole.
“ Please see if you can get someone to make better temporary repairs while we continue to wait for ‘ improvements. ’” A: The Guru drove on West End Street this week, and it makes that space between the railroad tracks in Fayetteville look like silk.
Is it over-the-top rough as construction areas go ? Nope.
Moreover, the drainage issues won’t go away with the completion of the $ 2. 3 million West End Street improvement project.
The road is supposed to be done this month, about three months behind schedule due mostly to the rain.
An 18-inch, 1, 100-foot-long storm drain on the west side of West End will carry some water away, but it’s not going to fix all the drainage issues. It’s still going to be wet through there.
The city did put storm drains on every corner of the intersection, said Matt Cox, the project engineer for Construction Dynamics Group, the company overseeing the city project. Robert J. Smith, aka The Guru, writes on traffic issues in Northwest Arkansas each Friday. He can be reached at gridlockguru @arkansasonline. com or www. nwanews. com / gridlockguru.
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