In September 2006, City of Fayetteville voters passed a sales tax bond election in part to fund $68 million in transportation improvements, and today we broke ground on the first of fourteen projects. While the design phase for each project is underway, the Wilson Park and Washington-Willow Traffic Calming Project is the first to reach construction phase. And the good news is the project came in 40% under estimate. The project includes the installation of 22 speed tables and 3 landscaped islands. If you live in or travel through these neighborhoods and want to see exactly where the installations will be located, stop by the City’s Engineering Office and take a look at the map.

This traffic calming project is only one part of a very comprehensive Transportation Improvement Plan. The first phase of the Plan includes an array of project types including street widening projects, an intersection realignment, alternative transportation development through trail construction, critical access improvements to the mall and a new minor arterial road. This is in addition to various safety enhancements like the traffic calming project and improvements to the City’s major corridor, College Avenue.

It is amazing to think about the amount of road work that will be accomplished in the next five to seven years. Remember, these TIP bond funded projects are in addition to projects in the Capital Improvements Plan (CIP) and the regular road work performed by the Transportation Division which includes 15 to 20 miles of resurfacing and 2 to 4 miles of sidewalk per year. So road construction crews, including our contractors and our own Transportation staff, will become very familiar faces on the streets of Fayetteville.

Fayetteville is a great, high quality of life community that draws newcomers by the thousands. Over the next several years, we will no doubt continue to face the challenges that come along with rapid growth and development. Many of the complaints I hear are related to transportation and mobility problems. City staff has developed a good plan to address many of these issues, and you, the citizens of Fayetteville, supported that plan with your vote in 2006 and continue to support it with your tax dollars. It’s exciting to see the first project under construction. There’s a lot of ground breaking ahead of us.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 29th, 2007 at 4:39 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.