FORT SMITH, Ark. — Towson Avenue, also referred to as Highway 71B, is set to see some lane closures throughout July. The Arkansas Department of Transportation (ARDOT) is set to resurface Towson Avenue in Fort Smith with work expected to start in early July and take at least one month to complete.
"It's a fairly significant repaving project, simply because the roadway is worn down, and so we're going to get in there and basically replace the entire roadway," said Dave Parker, public information officer for ARDOT. "That roadway is pretty heavily traveled, about 20,000 cars a day."
Crews will work overnight hours between 8 p.m. to 7 a.m. on the project "to limit traffic disruptions"
"When the traffic is less, you're home from work already, you're home from school," Parker said. "Less of a problem for people having to travel."
The pavement project will mill and overlay almost four miles of Towson Avenue between Highway 64 (Garrison Avenue) and Highway 271. The job was awarded to Forsgren Inc. for $2.6 million.
"This is a great example of how road lasts for a certain amount of time," Parker said. "It's time to get in there, take care of it, and actually get it done now versus [in] the fall when school is in."
Ed Walker's sits on Towson Avenue. According to owner Ted Cserna, it is the oldest restaurant in Fort Smith. The restaurant has seen it all, or at least 80 years of the road.
"Towson used to be the happening place. As time has gone on, Fort Smith has grown and has grown out in every direction and Towson is not quite the hot spot that it used to be, but it's still vital to Fort Smith," Cserna said. "Ed Walker's is kind of one of the only original kind of places that are that are left. Everything else has gone away or been demolished."
Cserna said the road hasn't been repaved since around 2008.
"Rogers Avenue gets all the attention. You know, Towson Avenue needs a little love too," Cserna said. "There's tons of traffic. People are coming and going to one direction or another of town and so forth. Towson is still an integral part of Fort Smith."
His restaurant is open late so the project somewhat concerns him, but he knows it's much needed and said it's a long time coming.
"We're open till midnight, seven days a week. So it'll be a big deal," Cserna said. "There's some inconvenience, and hopefully people will take the little extra effort that they have to do to get to us or take an alternate background. It's definitely a good cause. And so if we have to take one for the team for a little while, we will."
He said he's thinking of the positives that will come after the project is completed.
"Not going to enjoy all of it, but looking forward to them, you know, giving it some much-needed attention," he said. "I know that everybody that travels on Towson after that won't have to worry about getting a front-end alignment on their car after hitting potholes anymore."
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