Highway 71 Interchange (South Bella Vista Bypass)

Project OverviewDescripción del proyecto

Emery Sapp & Sons was contracted for the Southern portion of the Bella Vista Bypass corridor that connects with Interstate 49 in McDonald County, Missouri. The bypass provides direct access to the south and west of Bella Vista and improves connectivity and safety in northwest Arkansas. ESS proposed several Alternate Concept Proposals (ACPs) prior to the bid. The ACPs led to an accelerated construction schedule that would complete the project more than a year earlier compared to other bidders. This project included a full reconstruction of the existing I-49 / Hwy 71B (Walton Blvd) interchange.

This corridor features an immense amount of traffic and is the only gap in I-49 between Kansas City, MO and Fort Smith, AR. Maintaining traffic during accelerated construction was of the utmost importance for ESS, ArDOT, and local stakeholders throughout the duration of the project, until the bypass provided the designed relief around the Bella Vista/Bentonville communities.

This project required strategic phasing of operations, crucial schedule management, and a lot of manpower. The biggest challenge of this project was maintaining the flow of traffic in the area. Maintenance of traffic on the project consisted of 6 major phases of construction with occasional sub-stages in between. Work activities included drilling and blasting, pre-splitting, rock excavation, rock fill, embankment, bridge construction, concrete paving, and asphalt paving all throughout various phases of the project and adjacent to active roadways. This project also included the first-ever design SPUI (Single Point Urban Interchange) in Arkansas which included a 297' single-span plate girder bridge over Hwy 71B.