"I think the big thing is there will still be lots and lots of traffic here," Rhonda Nelson told NWACC's Eagle View the week the new airport road opened. "And I think you're gonna get replacement of people that's trying to get somewhere fast, versus some people that just wanted to come down here for something."
Rhonda and Tim Nelson have run Nelson Hardware & Supplies and a tire shop in Cave Springs for about 20 years. They sell local honey, canned foods, plumbing supplies and a little bit of everything else. Her word "replacement" is the best summary of what happened to Cave Springs on September 4. Trips that used to cut through town with no reason to stop now have a road of their own. The rebuild of Highway 112 through town is still a line on a state list with no start date. Until that changes, Main Street mostly belongs to people who are going somewhere in Cave Springs.
Twenty-eight years as the airport's front door
Northwest Arkansas National Airport opened in 1998 without a direct freeway connection, and it had none until this fall. According to the Fayetteville Flyer, the main route from I-49 went like this:
- Exit I-49 at Lowell.
- Head west on Highway 264.
- Turn north on Highway 112.
- Turn west again on Highway 264 toward the terminal.
When the first section of the Springdale bypass opened in 2018 between I-49 and Highway 112, the trip got a little shorter. Drivers still had to take 112 for the last stretch to XNA. A month before the opening, KNWA described what airport travelers coming from the east and south still had to do. They used 112 and 264, "traveling through the town of Cave Springs."
That was every rental car, every rideshare and every relative running late for a 6 a.m. flight. All of it was on the same road you take to the post office.
What opened on September 4
ARDOT opened two roads that afternoon, nine months ahead of schedule. Talk Business & Politics laid out the details:
| Road | What it is | Length | Built by | Contract |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Interstate 42, phase two of the Springdale Northern Bypass | Four-lane interstate from Highway 112 to Highway 412 in western Tontitown, with 15 bridges and three interchanges | 7 miles | Emery Sapp & Sons | $180.78 million |
| Highway 642, the XNA Connector | Four-lane road from I-42 to Highway 264 at the airport's south entrance, with 11 bridges | 4 miles | Crossland Construction Co. | $127.67 million |
The connector ends at a traffic signal at Highway 264 and Airport Boulevard. For about the last nine-tenths of a mile south of that entrance, it narrows to two lanes. The connector will be named for Philip Taldo, chair of the Arkansas Highway Commission. When construction started in 2024, the Flyer reported a target of late 2027, so the road opened more than a year early.
The new route from Fayetteville or Springdale is I-49 north, west on the bypass, then four miles on the connector to the terminal. Lowell, Cave Springs and Highway 112 are no longer part of the trip. KNWA put it plainly: "no detour through Lowell or Cave Springs."
People who live here still have the bypass interchange at Highway 112 south of town. The new phase starts there and runs west toward Tontitown, which gives Cave Springs a freeway on-ramp in both directions.
What the people on Main Street expect
No one has published traffic counts from Cave Springs since the opening. For now, the picture comes from the people who were there that day.
In Eagle View's report, Nelson said, "We don't feel like it's going to affect us at all." She expects the change to mean fewer traffic jams and fewer crashes in the area.
U.S. Rep. Steve Womack told the same reporter he was confident any effect on Cave Springs would be small:
"It's going to be a de minimis impact, and it will be short-lived because more help is on the way."
The help he meant is a wider Highway 112 through Cave Springs and Elm Springs, which he said will come eventually. U.S. Sen. John Boozman called the new roads "a big boost to Cave Springs, and all of the communities along the corridor."
All of these are predictions. ARDOT's own headline number is one too. Director Jared Wiley estimated that drivers coming from the west would save about 10 minutes a day by taking I-42 instead of Highway 412 through Tontitown. "That's one hour less sitting in traffic each week," he said, as quoted by Talk Business & Politics. That estimate covers the Tontitown side of the bypass. Whatever relief Cave Springs gets comes from the connector taking airport trips off 112 and 264.
"More help is on the way" has no date yet
Womack's "short-lived" depends on Highway 112 being widened. ARDOT's construction summary for Benton County, dated September 21, 2026, lists every segment of 112 through and around Cave Springs as "Programmed." That means it is on the list but has no letting date and no completion date.
| Highway 112 segment | Length | Estimated cost | Status, Sept. 21, 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Springdale Bypass to W. Wallis Road | 3.52 miles | $100 to $125 million | Programmed |
| W. Wallis Road to Pleasant Grove Road | 0.84 miles | $40 to $50 million | Programmed |
| Pleasant Grove Road to Highway 12 | 3.43 miles | $40 to $50 million | Programmed |
The 0.84-mile piece between Wallis and Pleasant Grove is the shortest segment, yet ARDOT estimates it at $40 to $50 million. Per mile, that is far more than either segment on its side.
One project in that same report is already being built. The Cave Springs W. Wallis Road and Sands Road sidewalks were let in November 2025 for $416,526 and are listed as under construction. That sidewalk is the part of the Wallis corridor you can actually watch go in this fall. The widening that would pass by it has no schedule.
The bypass itself shows the same gap between a plan and a date. Its next phase, about three miles from I-49 east to Highway 265, is expected to go to bid in about a year, with construction starting late in 2027. The final phase, from Highway 265 to Highway 412 east of Springdale, has no bid date.
In Cave Springs, the airport traffic left first, and the road it used to travel will be rebuilt later. That leaves 112 as a two-lane main street for the town's own traffic for the time being.
The first trip that comes to town instead of through it
North Main Street already has a sign of what Nelson called replacement. On September 4, the same day the connector opened, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported that the Cave Springs Planning Commission had approved the site development plan for the city's first Walmart Neighborhood Market. The approval depends on a drainage plan and other issues being worked out. An August 20 photo in the Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette showed pipes and an excavator on the site, a roughly 16-acre parcel on North Main Street.
No opening date has been announced. A grocery store is the kind of place people drive to on purpose. Picture a short weekday stop for milk on North Main, with less airport-bound traffic on 112 at the same hour.
Where the next decisions get made
Most Cave Springs decisions start small, at the city level. The city's events calendar lists a Visit with the Mayor on Friday, October 30. The City Council meets on the fourth Tuesday of each month. The October meeting was on the 27th, so the next regular meeting falls on November 24. Updates on the North Main site and city comments on Highway 112 will most likely come up there before they reach the evening news.
If you're wondering how the new roads and a grocery store on North Main might change what your Cave Springs home is worth, Jillian Chamberlin is happy to walk you through it. Request a free home valuation, or schedule a free consultation, and we'll talk about your street, your commute and what's coming next.
