SILOAM SPRINGS — Northwest Arkansas residents can meet with state Department of Transportation staff and others to get a sense of the potential impact of a proposal to convert part of US 412 in Arkansas and Oklahoma into an interstate highway.
Transportation officials from Arkansas and Oklahoma are working together to study approximately 190 miles of US 412 between Interstate 35 in Noble County, Oklahoma, and Interstate 49 in Springdale.
The Arkansas and Oklahoma departments of transportation will hold a public participation meeting from 4 to 7 p.m. on June 13 in Siloam Springs to discuss the US 412 Planning and Environmental Linkages Study.
The meeting will be held at John Brown University in Simmons Great Hall, 2000 W. University St. This will be the third in-person meeting about the study.
A linkage study is a formal process that allows data collected in the planning stage to be used during the next environmental review phase, eliminating duplication of work.
At the first public meeting, attendees were able to see the Draft Purpose and Need Report and Base Conditions. At the second public meeting, attendees were able to review the Universe of Alternatives and the Alternative Selection Methodology, which described how transportation solutions were being explored.
In this third meeting, attendees will be able to review the findings of the Alternatives Analysis.
The meeting will be an open forum with no formal presentation. The public is invited to visit anytime during scheduled hours to view the exhibits, ask questions and provide feedback.
The state department, in addition to building the highway, will consider aspects such as congestion management, intelligent transportation systems, freight transportation and multimodal alternatives.
A detour around Siloam Springs is being considered as part of the 412 study; US 412 currently runs through the city. In Oklahoma, the route would likely follow current US 412 route through the Tulsa metropolitan area.
Most of the 170 miles of highway in Oklahoma are already built to interstate standards with a four-lane divided highway and controlled access. Of the 20 miles in Arkansas, the only portion built to interstate standards is the entire section of US 412 Springdale Northern Bypass, designated Arkansas 612, between I-49 and Arkansas 112. I work on the segment between Arkansas 112 and US 412 in Tontitown is just getting started and will include an interchange for a new road to Northwest Arkansas National Airport.
Connecting northwest Arkansas and north-central Oklahoma with an interstate would foster economic development along the corridor and expand employment opportunities in the region, according to officials in both states.
The current study focuses on complying with legislation passed by Congress to convert US 412 to an interstate highway, address safety, improve mobility, and improve system linkage by connecting rural and urban communities, domestic airports and inland ports and chains of cargo supply.
The Oklahoma and Arkansas departments of transportation are studying the project in coordination with the Oklahoma Turnpike Authority and the Federal Highway Administration.
The idea of making US 412 part of the interstate system emerged in 2021 when the Council of Indian Nations Governments in Tulsa passed a resolution seeking support for the transportation change and from elected officials in Oklahoma and Arkansas.
In November 2021, Congress included future high-priority interstate designation in its infrastructure bill.
US 412 intersects I-35 about 80 miles west of Tulsa. I-35 runs from Laredo, Texas, north through San Antonio, Dallas, Oklahoma City, and Wichita, Kansas, to Interstate 70 in Salina, Kansas. Continue north to Duluth, Minnesota.
US 412 also directly serves the major inland ports of Port of Catoosa in Tulsa and Port 33 in Oakley on the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System and provides, or will provide, access to Tulsa International and Tulsa National Airports. northwest Arkansas.
Traffic passes Thursday, June 8, 2023 on US 412 in Siloam Springs. (NWA Democrat-Gazette/Andy Shupe)
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