By Rob Moritz
Arkansas News Bureau
LITTLE ROCK — The Arkansas Highway Commission is considering cutting grooves into a stretch of Interstate 540 north of the Bobby Hopper Tunnel in Washington County to help with water runoff and reduce the number of weather-related accidents.
The commission voted Wednesday to study the various possible ways to improve the drainage off the roadway along a 3.5-mile stretch of the interstate between the tunnel and the Winslow exchange.
Also during the commission meeting, a $22 million bid was tentatively awarded for a project to widen 4.4 miles of Highway 167 from two to four lanes in Dallas County, and the panel was updated on its spending of $351 million in federal stimulus funds on projects across the state.
Frank Vozel, deputy director of the state Highway and Transportation Department, told commissioners a recent study of I-540 north of the tunnel found a higher rate of accidents during severe weather.
“We did an accident analysis and we realized there were a relatively high number of wet-weather accidents,” Vozel said. “We identified where they are and we’re going to try to come up with a countermeasure to counter that.”
The commission voted to move forward with a study to determine how best to improve the drainage on the roadway.
Commissioners later Wednesday opened bids on 10 projects valued at nearly $58 million, including a project at Fordyce in Dallas County valued at $22 million.
The project, which includes widening of 4.4 miles of U.S. 167, was tentatively awarded to Ideal Construction Co. of Crossett.
Also awarded:
—A $10.3 million project to widen nearly 3.7 miles of Arkansas 63 between Portia and Hoxie in Lawrence County from two to five lanes. The project was tentatively awarded to White River Materials in Batesville.
—A $7.7 million project in Benton County to widen a 1.6-mile section of Highway 412 in Siloam Springs from five to six lanes. The project was tentatively awarded to APAC-Arkansas, McClinton-Anchor Division, in Fayetteville.
—A $7.3 million project to build an overpass bridge structure and 2.4 miles of embankment along U.S. 71 south of Texarkana in Miller County. The project was tentatively awarded to L&T Construction of Hernando, Miss.
The commission also was told $216 million of the $351 million in federal stimulus funds the department received earlier this year has been obligated on 88 highway improvement projects across the state.
The state has until March 2 to obligate the remaining $136 million. Twenty-eight projects have been selected to receive the funding.
