ArDOT kicks off $310M in road projects in Benton, Washington counties

by Jeff Della Rosa (JDellaRosa@nwabj.com)

Northwest Arkansas will add about 11 miles of interstate-style freeway to the region when nearly $310 million in highway projects are completed over the next three years.

On Wednesday (April 17), Arkansas Department of Transportation (ArDOT) officials and area leaders gathered at Northwest Arkansas National Airport (XNA) in Highfill to break ground on phase two of the Springdale Northern Bypass and a connecting road from the bypass to XNA. Combined, the contract values of the two projects exceed $308.46 million.

“Both of these projects represent a total cost of $410 million,” said ArDOT Director Lorie Tudor. “Of that is right-of-way, design and construction. Construction is $310 million, so that just gives you an idea of how much it costs to get a project ready to break ground on.”

ArDOT kicks off $310M in road projects in Benton, Washington counties

Lorie Tudor, director of the Arkansas Department of Transportation, speaks at the groundbreaking ceremony for the Springdale Northern Bypass and Northwest Arkansas National Airport connector projects.

State of the State 2024: Construction sector poised for growth

by George Jared (gjared@talkbusiness.net)

Editor’s note: The State of the State series provides reports twice a year on Arkansas’ key economic sectors. The series publishes stories to begin a year and stories in July/August to provide a broad mid-year update on the state’s economy. Link here for the State of the State page and previous stories.

Hyperinflation, rising interest rates, a weakened economy, supply chain issues and others plagued the construction sector in Arkansas as 2023 opened. Many of those issues started to ease as the year unfolded, according to Nabholz CEO Jake Nabholz.

Also, he told Talk Business & Politics that 2024 will be a year of growth within the construction industry. Nabholz said he hasn’t detected a definitive trend in the state in terms of what types of projects will do better in 2024. He expects that many public, industrial, retail, healthcare and others will all do well this year.

“I think we are all largely encouraged,” he said. “Construction inflation is down … it helps control project costs. It helps these projects stay more stable from a cost perspective.”

State of the State 2024: Construction sector poised for growth

State of the State 2023: Construction sector faces inflation, labor, supply chain issues

by George Jared (gjared@talkbusiness.net)

Arkansas’ construction sector dealt with a mix of new and old problems in 2022. Record inflation, interest rate hikes, and chronic supply chain issues continued to plague the industry during the last year and going into 2023.

Despite those problems, Nabholz CEO Jake Nabholz told Talk Business & Politics the company had a banner year and 2023 is projected to possibly be even better.

“I think everybody had a really good year,” he said. “As an industry we had to overcome record inflation and continued supply chain issues. We are excited about 2023, but I’m anxious to see what happens in 2024.”

https://talkbusiness.net/2023/01/state-of-the-state-2023-construction-sector-faces-inflation-labor-supply-chain-issues/