SPRINGDALE : In homestretch, city takes reins of projects
Posted on Monday, November 17, 2008
SPRINGDALE — The engineering firm overseeing the largest bond program in the city’s history is handing the job over to city staff amid hope for a seamless transition.
Construction Dynamics Group, which has monitored the $ 105 million bond program since 2004, leaves town Dec. 10. Before it does, its engineers are tutoring city planners on the projects.
Only six of the 18 projects are still under construction, but of that number, five are tied to the bond program’s signature items: east-west corridors in the southern, central and northern parts of town. Scheduled for completion next year, the corridors are expected to enhance Springdale’s traffic flow and open parts of the city to development.
Construction Dynamics administered the most irksome aspects of the program — property acquisition and utility relocation — and was on hand when all the contracts were awarded to the construction firms building the roads. Now that the bond program is in the homestretch, however, the consensus is that city employees have the time and skill to see the program to its fruition.
Van Lee, a veteran project engineer who oversaw the capital program in Fort Smith for more than a decade, laid the foundation for city engineers. Several projects were finished before deadline, and overall, the bond program is within budget.
“None of this was new to me,” Lee said. “I’d done it all before.”
Chief city engineer Ben Peters and staff engineer Ken Fladie already are familiarizing themselves with the minutia of the bond program, and the planning department is expected to finish the projects without hiring new personnel.
Lee, however, said Peters and Fladie likely will run into a few problems.
“On any program, there’s a succession of problems in the field,” Lee said. “Problems will come up after I leave, but that’s the construction business.”
The building where Construction Dynamics operates is owned by Springdale Water Utilities, a division of the city. When the engineers leave, all but one telephone line will be disconnected, and the remaining line will be routed to the Department of Planning and Community Development. Utilities such as gas, water and electricity will be switched over to the city. Until the program closes at the end of 2009, records will remain there.
Through October, the city had spent more than $ 92 million of the $ 105 million earmarked for road programs. Of that amount, $ 3. 5 million was paid to Construction Dynamics for engineering services, city records show.
The city acquired 451 properties, while six condemnations are pending.
When the bond program was first hatched in 2003, part of the sales pitch was that the new roads would attract development. And it appears the corridors are delivering on that promise.
Walgreens and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. are building stores at Butterfield Coach Road and U. S. 412 along the central-southern corridor. Arvest Bank broke ground Wednesday on a facility at the same intersection. Legacy National Bank also has plans pending before the Planning Commission to replace its building on the southeast side of the crossing.
Access is also on the upswing.
The southern corridor, named Don Tyson Parkway, runs in front of the world headquarters of Tyson Foods Inc. Employees there are raving about the new road, said Alderman Jesse Core, a Tyson employee.
I have received a great deal of positive comments on the convenience of the southern corridor, ” Core said. The new road has been a big benefit to his life, as well.
“It takes me 4 minutes to get work,” he said. “For quality of life, it’s been good for me.”
Not everyone is pleased, however.
Rande Walker, who lives in the 2900 block of Wagon Wheel Road, isn’t pleased with the roadwork in front of his house. The northern part of his property was condemned to make way for the new road.
In his yard he placed a sign that reads, “Welcome to Springdale, where they steal your land and ruin your dreams.”
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