The URL can be used to link to this page

Home My WebLink Aboutnewspaper article on amendmentLR can close Frazier Pike section Road not,part of state system, highway department says BY KRISTIN NETTERSTROM ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT -GAZETTE Arkansas highway officials say Frazier Pike,in Little Rock is not part of the state highway system, which clears the way for city directors to close a sec- tion of the road in an industrial area. Little Rock directors voted to close the road last week but later learned there weren't enough directors present to fast-track it in one meeting. On Tuesday they postponed vot- ing on it a second time when residents questioned whether Little Rock had the authority to close the road. "We don't want to do some- thing illegal," said Ward 1 Direc- tor Erma Hendrix, whose ward encompasses the road near the Port Authority. County residents who live nearby oppose closing 2 5,272 - foot stretch from Birdwood Road to Thibault Road and turning it into a private -access drive for steel -pipe manufac- turer Welspun Group. The India -based company is building a $150 -million plant off Frazier Pike at the Little Rock Port and has property on both sides of the road. Company of- ficials said they want to close the road to through traffic for security reasons and to prevent accidents with trucks entering and leaving the plant carrying 80 -foot -long steel pipes. "It's easy for people to say no closure on Frazier Pike, but wiio is going to take responsibility if someone gets hurt?" Rajesh Chokhani, Welspun's general manager, said Wednesday. ' °If today there's so much anx- iety, what will happen when we do the expansion?" he added. Little Rock annexed the plant's, 800 acres last year, and the former county road is now in the city limits. Pulaski County improved and widened nearby Thibault Road last year. It would become the area's arte- rial route if the section of Fra- zier Pike closes. Farmers south of the plant say curves on Thibault's two lanes are not wide enough for cattle trucks and farm equip- ment. "The turns on Frazier Pike are more of a sweeping type; you gradually fall into it. On Thibault they're right up on you," said Perry Patterson, who owns farmland along another stretch of Frazier Pike. Jack Tyler, who also farms in the area, opposes the request. "If you're going to set a prec- edent where you close a road because someone owns land on both sides, I want you to close Thibault where it goes through my farm," he told city directors Tuesday. He then presented them with documents showing residents paid off a $2.4 -million bond to improve Frazier Pike in 1956. The document said the road belonged to the state highway system. "I'm not sure you have au- tho,rity to close this road," he said. City directors asked City Attorney Tom Carpenter to re- search the issue, but on Wednes- day highway officials said the road isn't theirs. "Even if Frazier Pike were a part of the highway system then, it is not now, and I'm not say- ing it was," Randy Ort, a state Highway and Transportation Department spokesman, said Wednesday. The state has no authority over the road, he said. Before next Tuesday's vote, city staff have beeh asked to as- sess the quality of the two roads and the ability for trucks to turn and manage curves. City direc- tors also asked staff to address what detours would be available if an accident or emergency blocked Thibault Road. 0 a ^ -0 a