A car drives through a new roundabout at the intersection of Sain Street and Hemlock Avenue following a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Thursday, Nov. 17, 2022. (Flyer photo/Todd Gill)The Sain Street extension is now open to traffic in north Fayetteville.
Officials on Thursday held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the completion of the first phase of the project, which began in March 2021 as part of a plan to divert traffic from College Avenue and Joyce Boulevard, which is the city’s busiest intersection. A longterm goal for the project is to one day provide a direct connection from Joyce Boulevard to the Fulbright Expressway and Interstate 49.
The first phase included extending Sain Street from its dead end near Panera Bread to Vantage Drive which connects to Joyce Boulevard.
As part of the work, a roundabout was installed at Hemlock Avenue in front of the University of Arkansas Uptown campus. A 320-foot bridge was also constructed over Mud Creek.
The second phase of the project will extend Hemlock Avenue to East Millsap Road sometime in 2024. Officials are also considering closing Front Street’s intersection with Millsap as part of a planned 2024 rework of the College Avenue intersection. If that closure is approved, drivers would need to use Hemlock and Sain to reach the businesses along Front Street.
Crossland Heavy Contractors were awarded the $4.3 million contract for the project, which eventually had a cost of just over $5 million. Federal aid was used for 80% of the work, with the remaining costs coming from the city’s transportation bond issue that voters approved in 2019.
(Map: Fayetteville Flyer)
Fayetteville Mayor Lioneld Jordan speaks. (Flyer photo/Todd Gill)
Chris Brown, the city’s public works director. (Flyer photo/Todd Gill)
Ribbon-cutting (Flyer photo/Todd Gill)
Sain Street (Flyer photo/Todd Gill)
