FAYETTEVILLE -- Work on a street running through the University of Arkansas campus will require a two-month closing this summer.
Contractors said Maple Street along the north side of Razorback Stadium is closed for reconstruction. The intersection of Stadium Drive and Maple Street is also closed.
Detour routes will be marked. Motorists are encouraged to use alternate routes and use caution in the area during the work.
The multi-year project on Razorback Road is widening it through the University of Arkansas campus from Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to Maple Street and up the hill to Garland Avenue.
Maple Street will be four lanes with a new signal at Razorback and Maple, a modified signal at Maple and Stadium Drive and a mid-block pedestrian crossing, according to Paul Libertini, an engineer with the city. Razorback Road and Stadium Drive will be three lanes.
Asphalt overlays are also planned on parts of Garland and Razorback Road.
Construction is expected to end when students return at the end of August and resume in May 2019, after graduation. Everything should be wrapped up in August 2019, Libertini said.
The city, University of Arkansas and Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department have worked over the past several years to widen and improve the highway through and near campus.
The project was shelved in March 2015 because of continued uncertainty over whether money would be available from the Federal Highway Trust Fund but in January 2017 a deal was reached.
The state, city and University of Arkansas made an arrangement to close the gap. The plan entails four main stretches in which the state would either do the work or pay for it. The city would maintain ownership and responsibility of the road, with the university continuing landscaping duties through campus.
The proposal amounts to about $12.5 million of which the city would contribute about $500,000.
Maple Street is also Arkansas 112 and it's route through campus is expected to become a city street after the work is finished.
NW News on 06/26/2018