If orange barrels are any indication of progress, White Hall is having a bang-up year.
Work along Sheridan Road, also known as U.S. 270, has been in gear on the west side of the Interstate 530 interchange for more than a year. Anyone traveling that way knows the work has been tedious and, as is the case with pretty much any road work, dangerous for both the driver and construction worker. One errant glance and a deep drop off is right there to greet you.
That work involves widening the busy two-lane highway to five lanes, which includes a center turn lane. There will be curbs, gutters and storm drains to get the water moved away quickly as well as sidewalks, which really ought to be included in any extensive road work.
“It’s a complicated job,” said Drew Hoggard, district engineer for this area, reiterating the inherent problems with work being done on an already busy thoroughfare.
And things have just gotten busier, on both sides of the interchange, with the location of Relyance Bank there, as well as a big convenience store with numerous gas pumps and a four-story Marriott hotel.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
That widening goes toward Sheridan to Arkansas 104, but then work was also begun on the east side, from the interchange all the way to Arkansas 365 or Dollarway Road. The two sides will have the same amenities with curbs, gutters, storm drains and sidewalks.
Currently, on that end of the work, utilities are moved back in preparation for the start of the construction in the spring.
The initial work has likely caused a general slowing of traffic, but on a good day, that area, with its two lanes, can get backed up along Sheridan Road for what seems to be miles, as the growth in that area merges with the morning and afternoon rush hours. And the growth along there has been rather nonstop, with restaurants and other commercial entities taking root over the past few years.
Mayor Noel Foster said there was a time when property along the avenue was available, but no more as expansion extends across and into the bordering Pine Bluff city limits.
“This area is one of the most congested areas in the city,” said Foster, “and the new businesses are attracting more people and, in time, more businesses.” As for some of those potential new businesses, Foster isn’t quite ready to divulge the names. “Maybe soon,” he said.
The area is in upheaval at the moment, but these days will long be forgotten when traffic is zipping along the four lanes, people are walking on the new sidewalks and more new businesses are filling in the open spaces. As David Beck, a White Hall council member, said, the city is coming into its own. Yes, it certainly is.