zman9810

XNA is business/ account driven fares. Tulsa is usually cheaper even if you get a room for a night.

So, so ,so great that the 49/Fulbright/Hwy 112 exchange is open! Now, please open up the third lane at 49 and the 412 bypass before more people are hurt. The priorities need to be realized and construction contracts negotiated to reflect this.

The Sears closing at the NWA Mall could be a huge redevelopment opportunity. Imagine someone taking the chance to redevelop the Sears space as a convention center and building a high end hotel there to complement it. There is plenty of surface parking not being utilized at the mall and vacant space just south of the mall to accommodate any development. The mall area is still a very desirable area for dining, entertainment and shopping. Such a plan would help not only rejuvenate the mall (a big sales tax earner for the city) but provide an amenity that Fayetteville is lacking. It would be worth the City of Fayetteville to look at a way to help such a project along.

Hopefully they think outside the box and don't recruit another failing company. It probably would not work as a movie theater but dividing it up into some sort of community space or offices might be feasible. Fayetteville needs a large convention center type space and there are hotels close by. Even residential of some type could be looked at.

I did not make it to the MLK/I49 interchange improvements public meeting but I have seen a concern expressed that the flyover option would limit visibility. If I had made it to the meeting maybe I would have understood this but as it is I'm wondering what it is that would not be visible. If one is entering an on ramp the only thing that is important to be visible is the ramp itself and the traffic in front and behind. The height of the walls of the flyover should not be a concern as looking away from the roadway is distracted driving- a common source of accidents.

Improvements to the MLK/I49 interchange are still being discussed. Its shocking to see that spending an extra 10 million dollars and taking out several buildings occupied by operating businesses is being considered. This action would be needed to accommodate the "loop" option for rightaway. The "flyover" option can be built within the existing rightaway and seems to be a much safer way of helping traffic flow. The loop option requires an acceleration out of the tight curve to 65 mph in order to merge. The flyover option gives much better sight distance and smoother merging. Hopefully the highway department isn't pushed into a bad choice.

Isn't this being paid for by the owner's of the property to the east of I49? If so, its a good example of private/ government cooperation.

I agree with you- between Crystal Bridges and the Bentonville Film Fest the city has become the cultural center for the state. That fact makes it even more surprising that the Walton Family Foundation seems to have pulled back on plans for the large performing arts center that had been anticipated for Benton county.

Because I live in Fayetteville I don't have as much interest in Bentonville's development as some but it's a major player in our metro. I wonder what that city wants to become. The general feel is that there are opposing views- some want downtown Bentonville to remain the quaint town square from Sam's time and those who want the area to become a much more urban center. It seems well on its way to becoming a more urban center but without the corporate presence such that that is growing in SW Rogers. As I've told many visitors to NWA- we are just a large surburb without a city center.

The soon to be named Arkansas Transportation Department made a good call on the renovation of I49 between Mountainburg and Greenland. The road surface compares to driving on new construction. Its been a pain with the one lane driving at times but the end result is fantastic. The choice to use asphalt on the big reconstruction project along I40 and other interstates in Arkansas is coming back to bite the department. The road surface is deteriorating in places as is to be expected with asphalt. Reconstruction with concrete would have lasted much longer. The choice to use asphalt was made because it was cheaper, quicker and more miles of interstate could be repaired. The downside is that the roads are going to need another major repair job when money is even tighter now than years ago. Hopefully some of the stretches of interstate most in need such as I40 between I49 and I540 can be redone with concrete the next time around. That stretch doubles as the E/W and N/S route in that area. I'm sure there are other instances of interstate that do double duty that could use a more permanent fix, also.

The sky is falling! The sky is falling! Kind of the wrong forum to use for WM bashing and scare posts.

I see- its the city being proactive in guiding development. They may as well do away with the old zoning regs instead of piecemeal approach.

There are about half dozen city rezoning signs along N. College from Maple to North St- both sides of the street. Some are on developed lots and even one on the parking lot at the SE corner of College and North. Can't imagine them all being owned by the same person. Wonder what is going on?

More on the Arkansas Children's Northwest progress. http://talkbusiness.net/2017/03/physicians-tower-possible-700-jobs-part-of-phase-ii-at-arkansas-childrens-northwest/

I went to the Walton Arts Center re-opening last weekend and was thrilled to see that the renovations went far beyond superficial improvements to the visible parts of the center. Major improvements to the backstage infrastructure mean that the facility will be able to handle the requirements of modern Broadway productions and the Starr Theater will be a true black box amenity while Baum Walker is hosting. The lobby is beautiful and much more accessible to Dickson Street. I will always think that Fayetteville would have been the better place for the large theater that will be built in Bentonville but since that debate was concluded years ago I'm thrilled that Fayetteville has a first class PAC that any city would be happy to have. NWA is growing to the point where it should be able to support two high quality PAC's and they both thrive.

It looks like the Sam's Club construction may be starting on 56th St. It appears the main access may be on 56th and a right turn only exit on to 412 will be built although they may just be wishful thinking on my part.

The City needs to update their website. The master street plan I see doesn't show that extension of Appleby but it does show Leverett extending over Fulbright and splitting to connect to Van Asche with frontage streets over to Gregg. It also shows Drake being extended through the park over to Gregg- not sure if that is still a plan or not. I'm thinking that the state has already acquired the land needed for the 49/Fulbright interchange so that acreage isn't included in the 185 acres.

That is interesting. I didn't realize there was that much acreage there. I know the 49/Fulbright interchange redo is going to take some of it on the north side but that is still a huge property. With the railroad on the Gregg side and Drake being a narrow street there will be access issues to be addressed but the city council will jump at the chance to have that zoning on it. It will indeed change the cityscape when you come over the hill on 49.

Still no pics but we know it will be a 5 story building with lots of glass. That land is the high point for that area so it should be a impressive sight from I49.

Haven't seen pics posted any where. The one posted when the announcement was made is the new addition at little Rock( didn't realize it at the time ha)

You are right that it doesn't mean that it has to be big box with more parking than needed. Portions can still be rezoned and with the change in parking regulations and the use of variances the City could get much of what they want. It will take working together instead as adversaries. That area won't be a big regional draw until better access off I49 is built and the best way to do that is to figure out how to extend Joyce Blvd over to a new interchange with I49. It would be expensive but would pay off big in the long run.

Strange- my last post shows a time stamp of 3:33 AM until I log in to the UP site; then it shows the actual time I posted of 9:33 PM. I knew I wasn't sleep posting again. ha

As if turned out the group (no sure what the name is, I've heard several) that Gov. Hutchinson had advising him on ways to fund the highways punted the issue back to him. At this time it seems nothing is going to happen as long as the Gov. remains determined that any increase in funding for highways means cutting money from the long list of items that are now funded by tax money. The list of possible cuts has not been issued yet and who will come up with that list has not been determined yet. I wonder where the cuts will come from- prisons? healthcare? education? My choice would be to cut all funding for the Attorney General's office and let a special prosecutor handle the State's needs on any legal issues. That should save a lot of cash. Another idea would be to treat pot the way Colorado and Washington do and reap the benefits of taxation on the substance and it would also help decrease the need for prisons. Toll roads such as our neighbor Oklahoma has are a proven method of highway funding and can be spun as not a new revenue source but as a way of collecting taxes that are being evaded by drivers from other states. Seriously- someone needs to come up with ideas that do not hurt some residents of the state in order to help others.

Dredging out all the accumulated waste on bottom, fill in the inlet on the north side, build concrete sides to cut down on erosion. Build new bathrooms and a pavilion. I think there may be some work on the street between the park and Kum N Go but it might not be part of this project. The are plans to widen the Elm Springs Rd. overpass to 6 lanes but like every other road project they seem to come after the need arises and not in anticipation of growth.

The new parking regulations doing away with minimum number of spaces should help prevent the huge parking lots that are mentioned. Buildings will be able to built closer to the street even in the older zoning.