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Residents oppose proposal for new Rock Island road |
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Tuesday, 09 December 2008 |
Some Saline County residents oppose the Rock Island Expressway plan and are circulating a petition to make their objections known.
The county is looking to preserve the abandoned Rock Island Railroad right-of-way into a road fit for commercial and individual vehicles. Saline County Judge Lanny Fite said the expressway would be an access-controlled road with the goal of moving traffic at high speeds. It also would feature about a 7.5-mile walking and bicycle trail. The right-of-way begins at Arkansas 183 where the old Reynolds plant once operated and ends at Baseline Road where Saline and Pulaski counties meet.
Some area residents are skeptical of the county’s plan.
John Terry said he and others bought property in the county for “privacy and seclusion. We object to the highway. It seems to be poorly planned.”
Terry and the other residents who voiced concern said they all own property along and adjacent to the right-of-way.
Tommy and Irene Thompson call the plan “the road to nowhere.” “Where is it going to end?,” Irene Thompson questioned.
Terry said Pulaski County has not indicated it will build a similar road to connect to the Rock Island road.
The residents also question how the project would be funded. “The money has to come from somewhere,” Terry said.
“This will affect every taxpayer in Saline County,” Irene Thompson said, who also expressed safety concerns. “My grandkids play in my front yard, and who knows who will be walking or driving on the road?”
She added, “There are roads that need work now.”
Chester Hanson said he and others realize things grow and develop, “but with this there just doesn’t seem to be much of a plan.”
The land is still being surveyed to find out who owns it. The county then plans to purchase the property for the project, Fite said, noting the property may be purchased by mid-summer of next year.
Surveying costs around $190,000. Fite said surveying should be done by January and a report will be ready outlining all the property owners.
“This is like nothing else we’ve done,” he said.
He said since 1985 when Rock Island Railroad went bankrupt, people have been paying taxes on the property.
Fite said it appears there would be seven crossings on the 7.5 miles of roadway, and it would be 100-feet wide in every place and may go up to 200 feet wide in some places. “The traffic should go at a good rate of speed.”
He said the project is expected to cost around $1.1 million, but Terry objects to that estimate. Based on an estimated costs per mile from the highway department, a two-lane arterial would cost around $3.25 million.
Fite said all work would be done in-house unlike the highway department, which would bid the work out. “The county would not have to follow rules and regulations of federal highway administration and that would make it cheaper,” he said.
The Saline County Master Road Plan describes the roadway as a controlled-access, Class II Parkway. Fite said the severance tax recently approved by the Legislature in a special session will bring in about $200,000 in 2009 and by 2015, the county will be receiving about $350,000 for roads, he said.
He added that the county will put $300,000 of state-aid money toward the project.
The opponents said they soon plan to address Fite and the Quorum Court to discuss their concerns. In the end, they said they hope to see the county forego this project and invest in something else like current roads.
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Razorbacks
