Springdale : Divided highway divides residents
Posted on Monday, January 29, 2007
SPRINGDALE — The cows come running when beef farmer Steven Clark pulls up to the fence in his Kawasaki all-terrain vehicle.
The contrast between the old Wagon Wheel Road and the new is vivid from Clark’s perch. From his circular drive, the drone of traffic on Wagon Wheel is as immediate as the chirps and songs from the birds in the oak trees. Subdivision rooftops form a skyline on the eastern, western and southern borders of his property.
A $ 10. 8 million expansion is planned for Wagon Wheel Road. The project will convert Wagon Wheel from an overloaded, twolane country road into four- or five-lane traffic artery, one of three city leaders hope will ease congestion on U. S. 412.
In 2003, voters approved a $ 105 million bond issue to finance the improvements.
Wagon Wheel’s design appeared to be set last year when city leaders voted to widen the road to five lanes stretching from Interstate 540 to U. S. 71 Business. But the Springdale City Council rescinded that decision Tuesday, reopening the debate between longtime Wagon Wheel residents who prefer the five-lane design, and those who live in nearby subdivisions who favor a four-lane road with a tree-lined boulevard. Still a third contingent, clustered on Calahan Mountain, wants a twolane boulevard. The lifestyles of people like Clark and hundreds of others who live along Wagon Wheel are in the balance. To maintain the north and south sides of the farm, Clark frequently crosses the street with heavy, slow-moving farm equipment. If the road is built with a median, he would have to negotiate hazardous U-turns in heavy traffic. “With a median, it will make what I’m trying to do almost impossible,” he said. “It’s not going to be safe, and it’s just not going to work out for me.”
REVISITING THE ISSUE Aldermen Kathy Jaycox and Jim Reed, who represent the ward that includes Wagon Wheel, asked that the discussion be reopened to consider those opinions at the City Council’s Feb. 13 meeting.
Like Reed, Jaycox said it was only fair to revisit the issue because discussion was one-sided the first time around.
“The only people who were able to give their input were those who favored the five-lane,” she said. Jaycox added that residents shouldn’t necessarily believe that February’s vote will be any different than it was in September, when the five-lane expansion was approved 7-0.
“On Feb. 13, both sides will be heard,” Jaycox said. “But the vote very well could be the same.”
Those who live in the many subdivisions along Wagon Wheel support the boulevard proposal in the hope it will prompt more residential building.
“A huge majority of the development in this area is residential, and now includes an elementary school,” said Lisa Walker, who lives in the Thornbury subdivision. “The future development of the roads and the area should take into consideration who and what is already here.”
Opponents of the five-lane expansion worry Wagon Wheel will be crowded one day with taco stands, convenience stores and used car dealerships.
But the Wagon Wheel expansion is not the only road project that could affect the area. The $ 350-million Springdale bypass will cut north from 412 near Tontitown, cross I-540 north of Wagon Wheel and run eastwest across north Springdale before connecting with 412 east of town.
“If you have a new interchange, typically it draws development,” said John McLarty, transportation planner with the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission. “It could spill development as far down as Wagon Wheel.”
The bypass will intersect with I-540 between Wagon Wheel and Arkansas 264 in Lowell.
Those who live on Calahan Mountain just north of Wagon Wheel expect sentiment against commercialization to be widespread at February’s meeting.
“I anticipate that we will hear... passionate comments from the hundreds of homeowners that want to prevent their neighborhood from being converted into a U. S. 71 B or U. S. 412 look-alike,” said Calahan Mountain resident Bruce Applegate. “It does not make sense to me to spend city money on building a four-lane boulevard or five lane in this part of town.”
Residents in the subdivisions are skeptical of those who live on Wagon Wheel and who oppose the construction of a median. Longtime Wagon Wheel residents don’t oppose the median because it cramps their style, subdivision residents say, but because it might put a dent in the resale value of their property. “I understand their concerns,” said Erika Willis, president of the Stonecrest Homeowners Association. “But I think people on Wagon Wheel want to sell commercial, and a boulevard doesn’t support that. That’s my understanding.” A similar discussion is developing in Fayetteville, where plans are under way to widen Crossover Road from Arkansas 45 north to the city limits. As with Wagon Wheel, Crossover will either be developed as a five-lane or a four-lane with a median. In the late 1990 s, Crossover was widened to five lanes from Arkansas 16 to Arkansas 45.
COUNTRY ATMOSPHERE The shaggy hay field on the south end of Clark’s land abuts dozens of manicured backyards in the Windsor and Del’s Woods subdivisions. A few years back, one of Clark’s cows went into labor next to a subdivision backyard — one that didn’t have a fence — during an outdoor wedding.
Clark chuckled at the recollection.
“They were all looking at the cow,” he said.
Clark said he could sell his property for enough to buy a 100-acre farm in Missouri.
“I turn down offers all the time,” he said. “It’s a family deal. I don’t want to sell. I’m doing what I want to do.”
The country atmosphere is what the residents of the subdivisions like most about Wagon Wheel, Clark said.
“People like having the field back here. They say, ‘ Man, I hope you don’t leave. ’” Jerrel Stamps, who also raises cattle on Wagon Wheel, shares Clark’s sentiments. “If anything, a five-lane,” said Stamps, who farms 22 acres. “I don’t want the other [boulevard ] for sure. I’ve been offered $ 50, 000 per acre, and I’m still here.” Greg Cherry, a member of the Springdale Planning Commission who lives in Del’s Woods subdivision, scoffs at Clark’s notion that he will continue to farm beef on his land. “That area is not going to be farms forever,” said Cherry. “All that land will be homes. His land value will get high enough where he’ll say, ‘ This is a good retirement. ’”
To contact this reporter: rmassey@arkansasonline. com
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