City leaders and transportation staff reviewed several large and smaller roadway projects that officials say are intended to improve safety and traffic flow across Conway.

The mayor described Salem Bridge work, the planned pedestrian underpass beneath the bridge and safety-driven projects such as the Harkrider corridor (Oak to Bruce) with center turn lanes and sidewalks. The mayor said the city has “over a hundred miles of new asphalt on the ground or on our streets.” He listed several roundabouts either complete or planned: Prince/Country Club, Highway 64 at Hogan, and Salem at Meadowlake.

Kurt and Jacob from the city’s transportation/street department gave a longer briefing on project status and costs. Kurt said the Salem Bridge roadway was expected to be passable by late spring with project completion later in the summer, and that the Harkrider widening has experienced schedule changes tied to required utility relocations. He described the Dave Ward corridor project (Harkrider to I‑40) as a major median-divided reconstruction with three lanes each direction.

Transportation staff noted funding and scheduling limits: an estimate to overlay every street on a 20‑year cycle would require roughly $4,000,000 per year in today’s dollars; the city currently averages about $1,500,000 per year on overlays. Jacob described the department’s pavement assessment program and said the city uses traffic counts and a condition-ranking program to prioritize overlays.

Longer-term concepts discussed included a Western arterial loop and an eastern connector from Highway 64 toward I‑65; Kurt said the Western loop is expensive and would require a new funding source. He said the East‑West bypass remains on the radar and had been discussed with federal representatives in February.

Staff answered questions about drainage and noted there is no dedicated off‑right‑of‑way drainage funding; establishing a drainage funding mechanism was described as a possible future step.