Marion Planning & Zoning endorses Military Road plan

Marion Planning & Zoning endorses Military Road plan

Widening of city’s major throroughfare part of overall revitalization effort

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Marion Planning and Zoning Commission has endorsed a concept developed by consultants working on the city’s downtown revitalization master plan to widen Military Road and add additional landscaping improvements.

The state highway department plans to widen Military Road to five lanes sometime in 2018. However, consultants have pitched an alternative version to the state which would only involve two lanes with a raised center media with left turn lanes at the cross streets, bicycle lanes, enhanced sidewalks, and landscaping improvements instead of five lanes.

City Planner Ed Cain said the planning and zoning commission voted to approve that design in the hope that the state will take the city’s wishes into consideration as they develop their plans.

“We wanted to keep this idea in front of them and didn’t want it to die as they go into the design phase,” Cain said.

Marion hired Ecological Design Group and Fennell Purifoy Architects to come up with ideas on how to revitalize downtown Marion around courthouse square.

Since the state plans to go ahead with the widening, Ecological Design Group developed a list of improvements which the city could do in conjunction with the widening to improve the look of the roadway.

Ideas call for adding a decorative arch at the intersection of I-55 and Military Road, decorative lighting, bike lanes, and landscaped medians.

City officials and the public are not keen on the idea of widening Military Road to five lanes which would eliminate the popular willow trees which line the roadway across from Fidelity Bank. “If they widen that to five lanes that is going totally change the character of that area of Military Road,” Cain said. “So what we had the consultants do was look at an alternative to that.”

Consultants with Ecological Design Group have met several times with state highway department officials in Little Rock who indicated they will work with the city on the widening design.

“We’ve been anticipating that they are going to widen it to five lanes,” Cain said.

“So we have been trying to stay in front of that and get them to look at an alternative. In the meetings we have had they have been receptive to the idea of this alternative.”

Survey crews have been in Marion recently taking design measurements of the roadway.

The state has allocated $2.7 million for the project. The additional beautification projects along Military Road would cost Marion about $1.5 million.

The steering committee overseeing the revitalization effort, which is made up of local representatives, has already endorsed the beautification plan.

Cain said P& Z members felt it would give added weight with the state if their body also went on record as endorsing the plan.

“We looked over that section and we voted to endorse it, and also to recommend the city council endorse it,” Cain said.

“They will take that up at their next meeting.”

In other business, P& Z voted to approve a minor commercial subdivision of 3.18 acres located on the I55 west frontage road north of Hwy. 64 between the Exxon service station and Motel 6.

The plat includes three lots ranging from 1.5 acres to .8 acres.

“That’s been purchased by a local guy who is proposing to subdivide that,” Cain said. “On one of the lots he wants to put a body shop and a used car lot.”

By Mark Randall