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The Mountain Home Street Committee is considering vacating a section of 8th Street and potentially converting some downtown streets to one-way traffic following the state’s decision to remove a problematic traffic signal at 8th Street and Highway 62.
The Arkansas Department of Transportation, which is currently conducting a study on traffic lights along Highway 62, decided to remove the signal after city officials reported dramatically improved traffic flow when a glitch took the light out of commission for roughly half a day. That temporary outage demonstrated what city leaders had long suspected — the intersection functioned better without the signal.
During Monday’s committee meeting, City Street Department’s Steve Hill discussed plans to block off 8th Street between Hickory Street and Highway 62 once the state removes the signal within its 90-day deadline, which expires in late October.
“I think if I remember right, the conversation that we got to last month was y’all agree that we thought vacating that area between Hickory and 62 or Main Street would be vacated. We blocked that off,” Hill told committee members.
The removal would eliminate what officials described as a problematic middle signal in a series of three lights, including signals at 5th Street near the Sheriff’s Office and at 6th Street. Committee members expressed eagerness to see the signal gone.
“I’m ready for it to be gone,” committee member Jennifer Baker said during the discussion.
The committee also discussed potentially converting 6th and 7th streets to one-way traffic, extending the one-way pattern that currently exists around the downtown square all the way to College Street. The changes would create better traffic flow as the city adjusts to the signal removal.
“The only concern I have with vacating that and it’s a concern whether it’s vacated or not, is if somebody comes down Hickory Street and wants to turn left towards town,” Baker said, noting the difficulty of making left turns at both 8th and Hickory and at Highway 62 near the Sheriff’s Office.
In other business, Street Department’s Scott Manchester reported progress on several major projects:
- The Community Center splash pad at McCabe Park remains under construction with crews working daily. “It’s coming along,” Manchester said, noting that weather conditions have been favorable with no rain delays. The project has seen $233,724.24 in costs year-to-date with 80 days worked.
- The Redbud Street and Windbrook rebuild project has reached $488,327.39 in total costs, with crews working up to Overlook and currently installing sidewalks at Carlisle and Robinson streets. The project remains on track for completion by year’s end.
- Overlay projects totaling $267,931 are planned, including Chinese Trail out at Carlisle and one on Cynthia Square near the water park, pending completion of a water line relocation.
- The Robinson Drive rebuild, which has cost $35,977.16 to date, revealed significant subgrade problems with crews removing approximately 100 tree stumps that had been buried when the subdivision was originally built. “They just paved right over,” Manchester said, explaining that developers had apparently burned and buried trees on the site before constructing the road.
Manchester also reported ongoing maintenance work including mowing, cleaning traffic cabinets and sweeping. He noted that mowing crews would likely continue daily operations through October, though grass growth has slowed due to lack of rain.
Looking ahead, significant utility relocation work is underway near the Highway 62 bridge in preparation for a major expansion project that will address longstanding traffic and pedestrian safety concerns. Water, sewer, gas and electric utilities are currently being moved to clear the way for construction.
The expanded bridge will essentially become a four-lane structure to accommodate turning radiuses coming off Cardinal Street, officials explained. The project will include dedicated turn lanes for traffic entering town from Cardinal Street, addressing a dangerous bottleneck where right-turning vehicles currently slow through traffic.
The first phase of construction will focus on the section from Cardinal Street to the bypass, with a dedicated right-turn lane being a priority. Officials noted particular concern about pedestrians currently walking in traffic lanes between Cardinal Street and the Dollar General store area.
“If you’ve ever driven it, I’m sure you have, you’ll get some of those people walking that section by yourself from Cardinal out to like the Dollar General or so, and they’re right out there in the driving lanes,” Knox told the committee.
The expanded bridge will include sidewalks on both sides, providing safe pedestrian access from Taylor Park to nearby businesses. The project will ultimately extend improvements three lanes out to the bypass, though not the full four-lane configuration of the bridge itself.
“It’s taken the state a couple years to finally get to this point,” Knox added, noting that the bridge has been “the main choke point” for traffic flow improvements in the area.
The utility relocation is expected to be complete by mid-October, though officials acknowledged delays have pushed the timeline back. Hill indicated that depending on progress in the next week or two, further delays could impact the construction schedule. Once utilities are moved, the state can begin the actual bridge expansion that city officials hope will significantly improve one of Mountain Home’s most congested intersections.
