New freeway route OK’d despite citizen opposition
Posted on Thursday, July 26, 2007
Central Arkansas elected officials on Wednesday approved a new route for the remainder of the North Belt Freeway, ending more than a decade of turmoil over the location of the north Pulaski County traffic relief valve.
About two dozen residents attended Wednesday’s meeting of the Metroplan board of directors in a futile effort to persuade the panel to reject the route, which they fear will overtake their homes. They applauded comments like those from Wayne Riffle, whose home of 25 years in the unincorporated community of Kellogg Acres might have to make way for the new freeway.
“We’re disappointed,” he told board members. “You’re holding us hostage and destroying our neighborhood.”
Pulaski County Judge Buddy Villines, a member of the board, said his nay vote was meant to represent the views of people like Riffle. Most of the board members are city mayors.
“This is probably the best alignment,” Villines said after the meeting. But “they need someone to represent their feelings. I’m the only one representing the unincorporated areas. I felt like they needed to have someone express their point of view. Now we can move on.”
The decision, made on a voice vote, paves the way for state highway officials to design the freeway, secure federal approval for it and, sometime next year, finally begin acquiring rights of way. Plans call for a 12. 3-mile four-lane, divided highway from U. S. 67 / 167 westward to the Interstate 430 / Interstate 40 interchange — a project now expected to exceed $ 200 million.
The freeway is designed to provide an alternate route for traffic traveling on I-40 and better access to areas to the north — Sherwood, Jacksonville and Cabot. More importantly, it should help reduce congestion on not only I-40 but also Arkansas 365, Arkansas 107 and U. S. 67 / 167, said Randy Ort, an Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department spokesman.
About 60, 000 motorists make the commute between those suburban areas and Little Rock each day.
One portion of the North Belt — Arkansas 440 from U. S. 67 / 167 to I-40 East — already is a welltraveled route, Ort said. The $ 63 million east leg was completed five years ago.
The location of the route has been a source of friction for years. In 1994, state officials had a route selected and federal approval. That route was more to the south, within the Sherwood city limits. It conflicted with Sherwood’s master street plan, which showed the route closer to the location approved Wednesday.
The Metroplan board has a long-standing policy not to allow federal money to be spent on projects that conflict with local street plans. Most projects of the magnitude of the North Belt cannot be built without federal money.
In 1997, when state officials requested authority to purchase some rights of way for the project, the Metroplan board passed a resolution supporting Sherwood. That decision blocked off federal funding until state and local plans meshed.
That same year, the original environmental impact study for the project expired, requiring a mandatory re-evaluation of the route and environmental concerns.
“It is true that if the original proposed route had been consistent with Sherwood’s master plan, the road could’ve been built by now,” said Jim McKenzie, the Metroplan executive director.
Kellogg Acres residents had a jaundiced view of that maneuvering, noting that they had relied on the 1994 decisions approving the route.
Rudy Ealy, who has lived on Mine Road since 1992, told the board Wednesday that he put a “lot of money and sweat into making... our home. We built that believing you were good to your word. All that work done on the [1994 highway ] project was for nothing. You’ve been disingenuous from the beginning. You missed your chance... and now you’re shoving it off on us in the county. We’re mad.”
Patsy Knobel, a resident of Kellogg Acres since 1972, said she has fought the freeway off and on since the 1980 s because she moved to the area for the “tranquility.”
“We have things we can’t put on our backs and move,” she said.
The residents also believe that government officials are helping developers at the residents’ expense.
“The little people can’t do anything about it,” said Jeannie Burroughs, who lives on Kellogg Road.
Riffle’s wife, Bobbie, wondered if board members even had time to consider the magnitude of their decision Wednesday. Officials noted that the briefing material on the North Belt was distributed a week ago.
“We don’t feel you’ve had sufficient time,” she told the board.
Not all who spoke opposed the freeway. Karen Engel, a builder by trade, said she wished that officials would have kept residents apprised of developments and that the process to approve the route hadn’t taken so long.
“I’m not against the freeway,” she said. “It has to go somewhere. It’s just that we do need a decision.”
Others feared the project would creep farther north, affecting a small Jacksonville subdivision called North Lake.
“They’re building a lake out there now,” said Jay Whisker, director of administration for Jacksonville. “The city wants and needs to have [the freeway ] south of the lake, away from the residences.”
Michael Wilson, a North Lake resident, said, “Every time you look it’s going north and north. It’s constantly moving closer and closer.”
Julien Pierce, another North Lake resident, agreed. “You keep tweaking it. Tweak it south.”
Opponents of the new location doubt that they will pursue a legal challenge to the board’s decision.
“What we had today was frustration,” Riffle said. “They’re going to have a design process. We’ll start looking after our personal interests in the design process.”
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