Womack talks impact of Fort Smith’s Peak Innovation Center, Interstate 49 expansion in the River Valley

FORT SMITH — U.S. Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., said the greater Fort Smith community is doing a great job leveraging its assets and he wants to help the River Valley continue to grow.

The Rogers Republican discussed his work and current successes in the River Valley at a Fort Smith Regional Alliance board meeting at the Peak Innovation Center on Tuesday. He called the center revolutionary, especially if Fort Smith’s School District can fix the flooding and drainage issues.

The center opened to students in March 2022 as a collaboration between the School District and the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith, but is owned by the district. It serves roughly 280 students from 22 school districts across Crawford, Franklin, Johnson, Logan, Scott and Sebastian counties through the university’s Western Arkansas Technical Center program.

The center houses courses for automation and robotics, computer integrated machining, electronics technology and industrial maintenance, emergency medical responders, medical office assistants, network engineering and unmanned aerial systems. It’s the last of the district’s Vision 2023 plan projects to be completed, which were paid for through a 5.558-mill property tax increase voters approved in May 2018 generating roughly $121 million.

Peak’s parking lot first flooded in June 2021, putting a custodian’s car under water.

The center flooded a second time during spring break in March, with water entering the front office area, the adjacent hall and nearby classroom areas, according to a news release from the district. No classrooms were damaged and the center was open the following Monday, with the office area closed a few weeks for repair, the release stated.

Peak flooded again in June and July of this year, with Superintendent Terry Morawski notifying School Board members the events were less extensive.

The School Board approved a drainage improvement project this summer and has decided to investigate who is responsible for the multiple flooding issues as the repairs are expected to cost almost $4 million, according to district construction project manager Joseph Velasquez.

Womack noted the center had some funding through federal community project dollars.

“If there’s a way the federal department could partner with the facilities and mitigate some of this, I think it would be money well spent,” Womack said.

Womack said another area project — the expansion of Interstate 49 — will give him the opportunity to visit and be better attuned to what is going on in the River Valley.

The Arkansas Good Roads Foundation and the Arkansas Department of Transportation co-hosted a meeting last summer to inform highway commissioners about the economic impact the I-49 extension will have.

The new section of I-49 will be built in phases and is expected to be four lanes and nearly 14 miles long, costing an estimated $800 million, according to the Department of Transportation. A new 7,800-foot bridge over the Arkansas River is priced at $250 million.

Lorie Tudor, director of the Transportation Department, said during the meeting the bridge is the first phase of construction and will begin in 2024. The entire project is expected to be completed by 2030.