The largest road construction project Little Rock has ever undertaken using only city money is about to begin.
Finally.
Four years after the first public hearing was held on the project to widen a busy stretch of Kanis Road in west Little Rock, the city Board of Directors is expected to approve a $4.2 million contract to build the first section of it at the board's monthly meeting Tuesday.
Last month, the city public works department opened a low bid not to exceed $4,248,434.68 by Burkhalter Technologies Inc., a North Little Rock contracting company led by John Burkhalter. The bid included a base bid of $3.5 million and an additional 20 percent for contingencies.
The project will widen Kanis to five lanes from two on a 3,500-foot-long section from South Shackleford Road to Embassy Suites Drive.
"This is probably one of the most expensive phases to be done because of the amount of fill dirt that is needed," said Mike Hood, the civil engineering manager for public works. "It's a difficult section to build there because of the five-lane section and the terrain."
The work will include storm drains, curb, gutter and sidewalks on both sides, according to a board communication submitted with the resolution authorizing the contract. A traffic signal also will be added at Kanis and Embassy.
The signal "was a popular request among the business and property owners," Hood said.
The work is part of a larger project to widen Kanis west from Shackleford to Gamble Road, a busy section that has been unimproved except for required improvements as part of private development along the corridor.
Near Shackleford, Kanis carries about 21,000 vehicles per day, according to city figures. Traffic estimates say that figure will grow to 31,000 by 2034.
Farther west, the count is smaller -- 12,000 daily on Kanis at Kirby Road. But the intersection is the site of a planned apartment development, and its traffic count is expected to be close to what the easternmost section of the project is now -- 18,000 -- by 2034.
Improving the entire length is expected to cost $12 million. It is being funded by a mix of proceeds from a three-eighths percentage point capital improvement portion of a sales tax increase voters approved in 2011 and capital improvement bonds.
The latest delay was a 2016 Kansas City, Kan., bankruptcy by John Q. Hammons Hotels & Resorts, which has three Arkansas properties. The company opened the Embassy Suites hotel in west Little Rock in the 1990s.
It also owned some undeveloped property at Kanis and Embassy that was tied up in the bankruptcy, leaving the city unable to condemn it. The city eventually retained legal counsel in Kansas City to sort it out.
Hood said city officials hope to award a contract for the work on the section from Embassy to Bowman before the end of the year.
The work west of Bowman Road would go to bid some time next year, but Hood said city officials remain uncertain whether the work will be one project or two. If the latter, one project would go from Bowman to Point West Drive and another project would go from Point West to Gamble.
"We haven't evaluated what might be most advantageous to us to do at this time," Hood said. "It lends itself well to be a four-phase project and it was originally planned that way.
"We still may leave it according to the original plans, but there might be some economies to bundle it together and build it as one."
Assuming the board approves the initial project, work could begin within a month, he said.
Metro on 09/03/2018