Notice to Media

Commission Meeting

NR99-039

March 25, 1999

AHTD TO HOLD PUBLIC HEARING

ON PROPOSED HIGHWAY 253 WIDENING

LITTLE ROCK (3-25) -- The Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department (AHTD) will hold an open forum public hearing from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. Tuesday, March 30, 1999, at Cook Elementary School, 3517 Brooken Hill Drive in Fort Smith, according to AHTD Director Dan Flowers. The hearing offers citizens the opportunity to express their views on the proposed widening of a one-mile section of Highway 253.

The proposed project generally consists of widening the existing roadway to four 12-foot travel lanes with a center turn lane. The project extends from Highway 45 to the north for a distance of approximately one mile.

The open forum hearing allows citizens the opportunity to attend anytime between 4:00 and 7:00 p.m. Personnel will be on hand during those hours to answer questions and take written or oral comments about the project.

Preliminary plans, information relative to environmental studies, proposed right of way acquisition, and other pertinent information relative to the proposed project, as well as written statements received from interested persons, agencies or groups, are available for public inspection and copying at the office of the District Engineer, AHTD, 4019 Towson Avenue in Fort Smith.

Anyone wishing to submit written statements or other exhibits in place of, or in addition to, written statements made at the public hearing may submit them to the District Engineer, AHTD, P.O. Box 1424, Fort Smith, Arkansas 72902-1424. Such submissions must be received no later than Friday, April 9, 1999.

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