Access road project halted due to spring discovery

News-Times
News-Times

Construction on an additional access road from the El Dorado High School campus to Hillsboro/U.S. 82B is taking longer than expected to complete.

The discovery of a spring in the construction area — which will extend Wildcat Drive 2,270 feet north of EHS to the area just east of the existing traffic signal at the entrance of Westside Christian church and school — has wreaked havoc for contractors, said Robert Edmonds, director of public works.

The project got under way in 2017, several months after the El Dorado Works Board and El Dorado City Council approved a maximum of $500,000 to build the additional road.

City and El Dorado School District officials have said the new ingress/egress to help ease traffic congestion that routinely occurs at Hillsboro and Timberlane immediately before classes begin at EHS and after school dismisses each day.

Council Member Mary McAdams recently inquired about the project, expressing concern that it will not be completed before the 2018-2019 school year begins.

Edmonds said contractor ERC General Contractors had set up the sub-base for the road when the spring was discovered about halfway between the school and the top of the hill leading to Hillsboro.

“When we went back to do a compaction test, (the sub-base) was torn to pieces,” Edmonds said, adding that lay-down equipment — heavy machinery that is used for compaction — nearly sank in the area.

“The ground was moving, pumping up and down, so we have to move it out of there,” he said. “We had to dry that road bed out and intercept that water.”

He said French drains were installed to divert the water into a ditch nearby, adding that the spring was pumping two to three gallons of water per minute.

A roll-proof test, using a dump truck, that was performed early last week indicated that the road bed adequately dried out, Edmonds said.

Geotechnical engineers are expected to assess the site Tuesday, and if they give OK, Edmonds said work will proceed to pave the road.

“Hopefully, we can go ahead and get the asphalt down. We couldn’t have put down that asphalt for too long with the various problems we’ve had out there,” he said.

The work has drawn comparisons to a project that widened Timberlane between SAMA Healthcare and Robert E. Lee.

The city ran into delays and growing costs with that project, which began in 2008 and was still ongoing when Mayor Frank Hash took office in 2011.

The road was widened in anticipation of increased traffic with the opening of the new El Dorado High School building, which was completed in 2011.

Edmonds said issues that arose with the Timberlane widening project differ from the Wildcat Drive extension.

On Timberlane, workers unexpectedly encountered a significant amount of gray, expandable clay when they began digging in the area.

Edmonds noted that while the clay does not soak in water, water pools on top of it, creating an unstable bed for road work.

“Before we started on that road, we had fairly good material. There were a couple of spots that had to come out,” Edmonds said of Timberlane before pointing back to Wildcat.

“This is just a spring,” he said, pointing back to Wildcat Drive.

The additional work on Timberlane added $600,000 to the initial $1.09 million bid.

Edmonds said the Wildcat Drive project is within its $500,000 budget and could be completed over the next several days.

Council Member Billy Blann asked if the traffic signal at the entrance of Westside will be moved to align with the new road, and Edmonds said the job will be done as part of a state-planned widening and improvement project for U.S. 82B through El Dorado.

“That light will be moved and it will be moved at the expense of the (Arkansas Department of Transportation),” Edmonds said.

Tia Lyons may be contacted at 870-862-6611 or by email at [email protected].

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