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Greenwood officials break ground on new bypass aimed to improve traffic

Mayor Kinslow says the city has done its best to accommodate everyone's needs and avoid disrupting existing buildings, but residents haven't always been on board.

GREENWOOD, Arkansas — On Friday, March 1, officials with the City of Greenwood, community members, and the Arkansas Department of Transportation (ARDOT) gathered to break ground and unveil the name of a new highway. 

The family of the late Dr. James Burgess donated 26 acres of land to the city of Greenwood to create a bypass to fix a traffic issue that has existed for years. 

Congressman Steve Womack says, "This is a much-needed piece of infrastructure. Anybody who lives or travels through Greenwood knows the type and the volume of traffic that's coming through and creating this bottleneck. Not only is it an inconvenience, but it can be a public safety nightmare."

Throughout two phases, the new project will create three bridges and replace two… A bypass will be built where Highway 96 and Highway 10 intersect, and they’ll repave Highway 10 to add one mile of road going south.

The new name of the bypass is the 'Trey Burgess Memorial Highway', in honor of Dr. Burgess' son who passed away from cancer.

Womack tells 5NEWS that this bypass has been nearly a decade in the making. 

"For a long time, we didn't have earmarks in the federal budget, but now they've come back under very strong rules. And some of those rules apply to what we're doing here in Greenwood. So we were able to put about $5 million in the 2024 appropriation bills for this project," Womack says.

Greenwood Mayor Doug Kinslow says the city has done its best to accommodate everyone's needs and avoid disrupting existing buildings, but residents haven't always been on board.

"Some of the city property and Pink Bud nursing home is down here and connects to I-10. So we did the best we could with the design not to interfere with that. And the Masonic Lodge is right here beside me, that building is going to have to be removed due to the Main Street connection."

Kinslow said "There are many, many residents out there that are going to have to move, that have lived there a long time. So we're appreciative of that and all the work that ARDOT does to make that happen."

Construction is projected to last less than two years, weather permitting.

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