Sain Street extension project underway

Photo: Todd Gill, Fayetteville Flyer

A project to extend Sain Street is underway in north Fayetteville.

The work includes an extension of the existing roadway, which runs east from Front Street before becoming a dead end, to Vantage Drive to create a continuous route between Joyce Boulevard and College Avenue.

While this first phase of work is simply a quarter-mile extension of Sain to the east near Panera Bread, the longterm plan is to provide a direct connection to the Fulbright Expressway, so drivers headed west on Joyce Boulevard can avoid using College Avenue altogether when headed to the expressway and to Interstate 49.

That later phase will connect Sain to the flyover ramp for westbound drivers looking to enter the Fulbright Expressway or exit into the Mall Avenue and Shiloh Drive by Olive Garden. An eventual exit lane from the Fulbright Expressway would give eastbound traffic direct access to Sain Street.

Construction is expected to be completed sometime in 2022. Funding for the project comes from the bond issue that voters approved in April 2019, and from federal aid funding distributed through the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission.