Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

AHD picks overpass route

The Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department has selected the route for the railroad overpass project. A map of the route and information regarding the project was released by the AHTD last week.

Three proposed routes had been discussed over recent months. The highway department has approved Option 3.

According to information from the highway department, that option begins on Highway 371, crosses the tracks then loops northward, joining Highway 67 between Whiteside and West Chestnut streets. Three homes and the First Pentecostal Church will be impacted by that option. The distance is shorter and the half mile of road is expected to cost $3.4 million. The designated speed limit for this road will be 30 miles per hour.

The major differences between the three options presented to the public were cost, degree of turn and number of structures impacted. The option selected by the highway department is the least expensive of the three, but had the sharpest turning radius.

Several people who attended a public hearing on the subject in June said they favored that option because of the location with the junction of Highway 67. That option joined the highway nearer downtown Prescott than the others.

Some said they supported having the junction farther from downtown with the idea that a truck route could eventually be established to take the truck traffic away from downtown.