More construction is on the way for Hope residents as the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department has opened bids for a project that will encompass constructing passing lanes on seven miles of U.S. Highway 29 between Hope and Lewisville.
“These improvements will improve the flow of traffic and make the roadway more safe for Hempstead County,” Arkansas State Highway Commission Chairman Carl Rosenbaum said in a press release.
Three northbound and three southbound passing lanes will be constructed between Hope and Lewisville.
Arkansas Highway Department District Engineer Don Donaldson said traffic will not be rerouted due to the project.
“It will be onsite; we will not reroute. It will be adjacent to the project,” Donaldson said.
It will start about three miles north of U.S. Highway 82 at Lewisville. There are three sections in Lafayette County and three sections in Hempstead County.
Donaldson said the project will be broken up into sections all through that area.
“There are some skips between all that,” he said. The contract was awarded at $10,274,534.81 to Marietta Materials Inc., of Hot Springs.
The projects are funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, according to Donaldson.
Donaldson said another major project should begin next month which includes the replacement of five bridges on U.S. Highway 67 between Hope and Emmet.
The six structures that are all bridge-length structures include five are bridges and one box culvert. Those will be replaced starting at the railroad overpass at Southern Bakery.
Bids were also opened for improvements in Nevada County as well that will include construction of a bridge on Highway 24 east of Prescott. Manhattan Road and Bridge Company of Tulsa, Okla., was awarded the contract at $2,667,592.41.
Rosenbaum said the new bridge will be constructed over Terre Creek and construction should begin in two to four weeks. The completion date on that is expected to be this summer.
