Rodney Parham construction causes neighbors problems

Little Rock, Arkansas – Rodney Parham Road is now being expanded by adding a sidewalk and bike lane; however, this has left people with a mess to clean up.

Three years ago, Billie Woods and her husband moved into their house on Rodney Parham Road.

“I loved how beautiful the landscaping was,” Woods described.

She claimed that Woods would have reconsidered moving in if she had realized that her front lawn would turn into a building site.

“Just look around you. I mean, it’s been a mess with traffic [and] sometimes, you can’t get out of the driveway,” Woods explained.

Bulldozer tire tracks have taken the place of the yard decoration that once stood out for anybody passing by.

Currently, Woods’ lawn’s shrubs and shrubbery are dead and dried out since the workers turned off her sprinkler system, she claimed.

“Before the weather even began to change, my landscape already started dying,” Woods said.

This widening project has also affected her cable and internet.

“It’s been out for five days,” Woods explained.

She continued by saying that although the city had informed her that roadwork would be taking place, it had never specified how close to her home it would be.

“No one told me the city of Little Rock would own part of our property,” Woods said.

Little Rock’s civil engineer is Mike Hood.

He told Frederick Price that a local ordinance specifies a property owner’s front property does not begin at the edge of the roadway, but he was unavailable to speak with us on camera.

40 feet from the center line of the road is regarded as public property for the majority of properties on Rodney Parham Road.

Therefore, the city is free to widen a street that might touch a front lawn.

“Of course, I don’t like it and of course, I am upset about it, but actually what can I do,” Woods said.

She is confident that the project will benefit the neighborhood once everything is finished, but she would at the very least appreciate compensation to help her replace what has been destroyed.

“Put my landscaping back [and] turn my sprinkler system back on and I will probably be okay,” Woods said.

Hood informed us that some residents had received temporary construction easements as payment, but many might not be lucky.