The City of Rogers has approved a $397,000 project that will help prevent future road deterioration.
A creek that runs alongside Pleasant Ridge Road is eroding the bank that holds the road up.
“Instead of doing just a quick fix, solve it now, we were able to finish the plans and do a long term fix that will fix the whole stretch,” said Lance Jobe, project engineer for the City of Rogers
Contractors recently noticed erosion along Pleasant Ridge Road, between Breckinridge and Monte Ne roads, in Rogers.
“It`s historically been a problem,” Jobe said.
According to officials, the problem needed to be fixed quickly.
“Who knows when [the road] could fail,” Jobe said. “But, it could fail at any time, and we don`t want someone getting hurt.”
The project was approved by the Rogers City Council Tuesday night, and construction began Wednesday morning.
“We are going to construct a gabion wall, which is basically a wire basket filled with rocks. That becomes a retaining wall,” Jobe said.
The two lane road will be limited to one lane at times.
“We are going to put traffic signals at both end of the project,” Jobe said.
The traffic signals will work much like stop lights. The single-lane road will be moderated by the signals.
Until the retaining wall is completed, and signals are installed, Pleasant Ridge Road will be closed at times temporarily.
“Traffic is going to be really bad right here,” said Jana Turner, a nearby resident. “But, that`s something that needs to be done.”
In order to fix the problem, construction crews, from Rogers-based J. Johnson Construction, will build retaining walls to support the road.
“The importance is safety,” said Johnnie Johnson, owner of J. Johnson Construction. “It’s not a very safe road. We are going to make it safe.”
In order to complete the project, crews are redirecting the channel that runs alongside the road.
City officials tell 5NEWS they expect the project to take roughly 30 days to complete.