Mayor Sandy Sanders and the Fort Smith Board of Directors will host a ribbon cutting ceremony for the Chad Colley Boulevard Extension project. The ceremony will be held on Thursday, September 22, 2011 at 3:00 p.m. at the intersection of Chad Colley Boulevard with Custer Boulevard.
The new roadway extends 4000 feet from its current terminus south of Roberts Boulevard to the intersection with Massard Road. The project was constructed at a total cost of approximately $3.3 million. Funds for the project came from the local one cent sales tax for streets and associated drainage.
This extension of Chad Colley Boulevard is an investment in jobs creation and economic development opportunities at Chaffee Crossing and will provide access to the new Mitsubishi Wind Turbine plant. This final extension will also provide a direct route along Chad Colley Boulevard extending more than 3 ½ miles from its intersection with Rye Hill Road to Zero Street.
This section of Chad Colley Boulevard is built as a two lane roadway that can be widened to a four lane boulevard when traffic warrants in the future. Project construction included approximately 6,500 cubic yards of concrete (800 truck loads), approximately 45,000 cubic yards of earth was moved (5,000 truck loads), and approximately 2600 feet of new storm drainage pipe was installed. A sidewalk is included along the west side.
Work began on this section of Chad Colley Boulevard in January of this year. The project was designed by Hawkins Weir Engineers, Inc. of Van Buren and was constructed by Forsgren, Inc. of Fort Smith. The City of Fort Smith Engineering Department provided construction administration for the project.
