The uptown area of Fayetteville, otherwise known as the area around the Northwest Arkansas Mall, has grown a lot over the 37 years since the mall was built in 1972.
The growth of that area’s retail district has caused a need to address traffic concerns and connections between Gregg Avenue, the Fulbright Expressway, I-540, College and Joyce avenues.
In November 2006, local engineering firm Carter and Burgess completed a study on the area surrounding the Fulbright Expressway near the Northwest Arkansas Mall, (the FEEDC or Fayetteville Expressway Economic Development Corridor), and when the final recommendations were presented in 2007, three projects were proposed to begin un-tangling the traffic issues in the area, one of which will result in Fayetteville’s first roundabout.
Roundabout at Futrall/Millsap/Northhills
The roundabout will be constructed at the intersection of Futrall Drive/Millsap Road, and Northhills Boulevard, near Washington Regional Medical Center.
City planner Jeremy Pate said the project is on track.
“It’s a fully-funded project and it is going forward,” Pate said. “We are a little past 50 percent design-complete right now.”
City staff reviewed the project on Monday during the Street Committee meeting, and design is expected to be complete by the first part of 2010. Construction is set to begin in the middle of next year.
Roundabouts don’t require stoplights and are intended to keep traffic flow moving while reducing waiting time for motorists. Pate said a roundabout at this intersection makes the most sense.
“In this case we have an off-ramp, an on-ramp, a hospital that employs a lot of people, and a great deal of traffic coming into this intersection,” he said. “A lot of traffic studies have indicated that a roundabout with continuous movement is the most efficient manner in moving traffic in a situation like this.”
Some other advantages to roundabouts are that they are generally considered to be safer than conventional intersections, as accidents that do occur in roundabouts generally happen at slower speeds and slighter angles.
Flyover bridge at College Ave.
More improvements identified in the FEEDC are scheduled to begin over the next two years, the largest being a flyover bridge from College Avenue to the Fulbright Expressway. Another project would connect Gregg Avenue to Hwy. 112 with an extension and re-alignment of Van Asche Drive.
The flyover bridge isn’t scheduled to begin construction until early- to mid-2011, and the Van Asche extension is in the very early planning stages. The combination of the three projects – once complete – will go a long way in correcting some of the challenges with getting around in north Fayetteville.
What do you guys think about a roundabout in Fayetteville? Can Fayetteville drivers adapt to a new kind of intersection in town?
God, I love it when we talk infrastructure…
I prefer “North Town” to “Uptown” as uptown ususally has an upscale connotation.
As for Roundabouts, Conway seems to have adjusted just fine to them. I think this is just the first of what will be many.
I’ve always thought (well at least for a few years) that a roundabout would be cool at Poplar on College, to slow down some of that traffic, and break up that long straight stretch. It wouldn’t get a lot of use from the Poplar side, so it would be an easier one for folks to get used to.
Hooray for the flyover, I just hope they can find a way to make it not fugly.
i LOVE a roundabout! Can’t wait to navigate!
Srsly, Matt Petty, et al:
Is there any way we can try to make that flyover pretty? Can we at least make the concrete look like stone (like the overpasses in “upscale SW Rogers”) or give it some design, or even paint “Welcome to the Green Valley” on the side?
I don’t like that it will hurt some of our hill views in “uptown”, so can we at least try to make it something that adds to the community aside from basic convenience of traffic flow?
Thanks in advance.
I think this sounds awesome and that flyover bridge just makes my mouth water! Those projects will help tremendously!
I was in Albuquerque the other day and I really liked how they had LED uplighting on their overpass colums. It really added something to the landscape.
@burgerboy
New Mexico legislates aesthetics.
http://www.nmarts.org/artpublic.html
There’s already a roundabout/obnoxious obstruction at the intersection of Ila and Vandeventer if you want a glimpse of the future.
Roundabouts assume a level of skill, patience, and cooperation not taught or engrained in American motoring culture. What happens when Hans Moleman, still hazy from his weekly colonoscopy next door, comes to a confused full stop in the middle of the thing? Or when an airhead typing a text misses the plot?
I’d avoid that area for a while.
The roundabout on Vandeventer isn’t the same as this… it is in the middle of a neighborhood that doesn’t have the traffic problems that up or north town has. That and all the other crap around Wilson Park is designed to keep people out of that area since the residents complained enough. I think roundabouts are great; yes there will be some issues, but most of the people that go through that intersection do so daily so they’ll figure it out.
@burgerboy – The Downtown Master Plan called for a roundabout with an iconic statue at Lafayette and College, but we couldn’t do it because it’s an intersection of two state highways. We’d probably run into the same thing with Maple, but it’s a good idea.
I’ll ask about the aesthetics of the flyover…
At least with it being next to the hospital the transit time to the ER after accidents should be quick.
Decided lack of faith in NWA motorists being able to navigate a roundabout successfully. Many still are struggling with keeping in between the lane markers.
LOL. Every American roundabout I have ever used has had ample signage to depict traffic flow. Literacy isn’t even required.
Many in NWA have enough trouble figuring out who has right-of-way at a four-way stop. At least this will make me feel better about always just taking right-of-way for convenience.
I like roundabouts, they are a great idea. There will be some adjusting time for them but well worth it.
It would be nice if College and Joyce had a pass through roundabout. Here are some examples:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2337/2283180995_7c94792e5e_o.jpg
http://fast.mediamatic.nl/f/jplt/image/816-290-475.jpg
http://fast.mediamatic.nl/f/jplt/image/815-290-198.jpg
Something like this would work better for high traffic areas where the one proposed for the hospital is best for mid traffic levels.
Based on citizen adaptation to roundabouts in Wichita, I suggest that the city start a campaign NOW to prepare drivers. Something on the order of, “Hey, idiot! Those are YIELD signs, not STOP signs!”
Four years later, and people still stop at the roundabouts…
Smart early planning would have dictated a flyover to begin with. It will probably cost 100 times what it would have back in the day, but better late than never…it’s the one part of Fayetteville that has never made sense. Now, if they could only move the mall south a mile or so, we’d get the tax revenues from that to help pay for it!
I don’t think the way the interchange is that bad. Usually the extra cost with doing a project is aquiring the land and moving utilities. That is something that doesn’t have to be done for a flyover. At the time of the interchange being build, traffic was minimal so their was little need for the extra cost. The money saved in doing that (I hope) went to other meaningful projects. So with inflation it should cost relativly the same now as it would have then. It might even be cheaper now b/c of the economy, advancements in tech, and more companies able to do that kind of work in this area.
@Burgerboy – I checked in on the aesthetics, and we’re planning on using textured concrete panels. With the panels, you can do things like Rogers has done, or really kick it up a notch with relief images of scenery. Personally, I’d like to see blue cranes and oak trees…
We’re going to talk about the aesthetics in October, when we have enough of the design done to know how much space we’re working with.
Driving in F’ville everyday, I’m just afraid we have too many knuckleheads to make this viable. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s a great idea; however, if you’ve ever had to go through that 4 way stop they’re looking to replace, you can tell most of the people have NO CLUE on how to properly navigate it. I don’t know if they’ll be able to figure this out any better. I see 1) someone going the wrong way onto the interstate, 2) several low speed crashes involving idiots that can’t get out of the roundabout and 3) some drunk moron is going to do something stupid (see the where the rock used to be on dickson st.)
I think it is a great idea; we can’t plan our infrastructure around bad drivers.
I live in this neighborhood and use this intersection everyday and must say that people can barely navigate the 4-way stop. This should be interesting to say the least.
I think I’lll make sure to avoid the roundabout at all costs.
My life is put in jeopardy everyday by people who haven’t mastered the simple art of merging onto I540.(my tip to these people: The gas pedal is on the RIGHT, for god’s sake enter the highway at highway speed not 30mph less. That will get you killed!)
I can’t imagine this will go well, especially with all of the blue-hairs on their way to Washington Regional. Is there a fire/emt station close to this intersection? Might be a worthwhile addition, could put it right in the middle of the roundabout lol.
When can we get the streets in fayetteville repaired, rather than adding new infrastructure that won’t be maintained adequately?
@07stiltd Nearest firestation is less than a mile southeast of the intersection.
[...] A roundabout in Fayetteville? “Look kids, Big Ben, Parliament!” [...]
Before the pro/con arguments of the project, someone MUST address how silly it is to use the British term “roundabout”. Will we use “flat” rather than “apartment” or “fag” in place of “cigarette” as well? Here in The States it’s a traffic circle, not a roundabout. I know Kansas uses the word “roundabout” freely, but Kansas is always attempting to be something its not. So, I urge you all, embrace “traffic circle”; it is right and good.
@Callie: The now-standard “flared” design where cars approaching the circle yield to those already in it is indeed called a roundabout or “modern roundabout” in the U.S.
Traffic circles are the older, larger versions that often require drivers to change lanes inside the circle. They don’t handle heavy traffic as well as roundabouts and cause more accidents. I think they’re usually referred to as rotaries in the Northeast.
So, nothing wrong with calling it a roundabout. That’s what it looks like in the picture above.
If we did call it a traffic circle, would that make all the people who don’t know how to use one traffic circle jerks?
Elderly drivers and brake slammers, from the backwoods, will turn the circle into a bloodbath.
For a regional reference, the City of Branson installed a roundabout at a five point intersection 3 or 4 years ago. It is just north of the new Branson Landing which is very big tourist draw with a lot of traffic. There have been very few accidents and the traffic flows really well without backups. This is in a City that attracts a huge number of senior drivers. If the blue haired tourists in Branson can navigate a roundabout, I think Fayetteville will do just fine.
Matt, thanks for checking on the flyover aesthetics. Great to hear. I’d like to see it become part public art.
I still think a great roundabout location on College would be at Poplar (near AQ) because it would slow down traffic that screams down through there, and give Midtown its own icon.
I just got from Anchorage AK, there were turnabouts there. My daughter(age24) had been complaining ever since she moved there a year ago. I finally had to drive through one, it felt scary probably because it was my first time. I saw two people do it wrong, and saw one accident. My daughter Karma says there are accidents all the time, and the no one understands how to use them properly. There are so many signs in the turnabout it is distracting. check it out: http://www.alaskaroundabouts.com/akRound.html The website has an animated one and a test you can take.
Anchorage is a huge city so of course they will have more problems and drivers who are not paying attention. I think it will work better here. I hope they do not have to put up all those signs though. Although I do not know how else people will able to be guided without them.
The one I drove through had two lanes within it and it was next to a busy expressway. It seemed complicated–the design that is.
I was not driving, but I have been through the Magic Roundabout in Swindon, England. It contains five lesser roundabouts arranged in a circle, with a total of seven lanes of traffic. I have walked across the Place de l’Etoile (around the Arc de Triomphe in Paris), which has, apparently, nine to eleven unmarked (!) lanes of traffic, depending on how drivers feel at the moment, and twelve boulevards radiating from it.
Perhaps this one will not be so bad, as long as we all remember that those are yield signs, not stop signs.
I like roundabouts. I don’t like the driving skills of Arkansas drivers! Many can’t merge onto a highway correctly. Many (including the so called gridlock guru) don’t know how to make a left turn in traffic. Many think a 4 way stop is a chance to see “who wants to go because I’m really scared to go”. I could go on. Still I like the round about idea. The flyover will be helpful. it’s a shame when they build the area that they didn’t think that maybe people on college going north might want to get on 540.
[...] talked about a handful of transportation bond program projects that are underway including the roundabout and flyover planned for the Uptown [...]