Originally published in the Eagle View’s print edition on March 18.
In-person attendees of NorthWest Arkansas Community College in Bentonville have in recent months faced more difficulty than usual getting to class on time. The main cause for delays is simply the traffic caused by the construction on Water Tower Road. Students dodge orange cones, fight to cross oncoming vehicles, and have to navigate through the maze of potholes and rocky gravel.
When some students were asked how they felt about it, the main responses were agitation and impatience. At least some of that may be addressed in coming weeks as a second phase of work on Water Tower Road is completed sometime this spring, but there’s more to come, according to the city of Bentonville’s website.
“Bentonville continues to be one of the fastest-growing cities in America with population estimates over 100,000 people by 2040. Current weekday traffic nearly doubles with incoming school and business traffic,” according to bentonvillebond.com/streets. The city of Bentonville has created a Master Street Plan, with engineers conducting a city-wide needs study that identifies and ranks projects by safety, congestion reduction, bike, and pedestrian movements throughout the city. The plan also keeps in mind economic development impact, cost, and construction duration.
Water Tower Road, which runs along the Bentonville campus’ east boundary, serves as a north-south frontage road along I-49 to connect to the 8th Street interchange and provide access from I-49 to NWACC and residential neighborhoods. This project will bring Water Tower Road up to arterial street standards and improve the intersections between SE 14th and East Battlefield Boulevard. The project specifically consists of improving approximately 0.71 miles of E. Battlefield Boulevard between E. Central Avenue and Water Tower Road into a three-lane roadway with pedestrian/bicycle facilities consistent with the City’s Bicycle Pedestrian Master Plan. Another project aims to improve Water Tower Road between SE 14th Street and East Battlefield Boulevard. The proposed roadway will be a four-lane road with a raised center median and two roundabouts at the intersection of Water Tower Road with 8th Street and Water Tower Road with East Battlefield Boulevard.
Phase One of the ongoing construction was completed in the spring of 2024. The estimated completion of Phase Two is to take place in the spring of 2025. Then Phase Three is to start shortly after, according to the city’s website.
Update from December 2025:
The official ribbon-cutting for the Water Tower Road project was held on April 11 and attended by college and community leaders.
