FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (KFSM) — The long-awaited extension and realignment of Rupple Road from Wedington Street to Mount Comfort Road is officially open.
The realignment was paved and striped earlier this week, and the road officially opened on Friday (Aug. 30). The realignment curves Rupple Road around to meet the intersection with a northern leg and removes the Y-intersection where the road previously met the southern side of Mount Comfort.
Chris Brown, city engineer for Fayetteville, said the new section is a four-lane boulevard and is now "functioning as designed."
Brown said this piece of Rupple costs $5.6 million with 80% of the cost being paid for with federal aid. He said the bridge alone was $2 million.
The project is part of an overall project to stretch Rupple Road north to Howard Nickell Road, making it a north-south corridor in west Fayetteville and Washington County.
The next phase will begin soon as part of a new development being built. Brown said the developer is getting bids now and construction will start soon. That phase will connect Rupple Road north almost to Weir Road. It will stop at the Fayetteville city limits. The final stretch to Weir Road is currently owned by the county, Brown said.
The planned completion of Rupple Road to Howard Nickell is expected to take a couple of years, Brown said. But when completed, it will offer a paved connection from MLK Boulevard in south Fayetteville to Howard Nickell Road in north Fayetteville.