Tudor: From small town to ARDOT top boss
Director talks Saline County projects, Issue 1 campaign
Earlier this year, a longtime Saline County resident was named to the top job at the Arkansas Department of Transportation.
Lori Tudor, of Benton, was promoted into the position of director in March.
“I am so honored to be a part of the ARDOT legacy,” she said. “I look forward to each new day and its challenges with excitement and anticipation.”
Tudor has lived in Saline County since she was 9 when her family moved from California to be closer to her extended family.
She is a graduate of Benton High School.
She believes Saline County chose her, but she said if she had it to do over again there is nowhere else she would rather live.
She raised her family in the community.
Tudor started with ARDOT in 1981 as a clerk typist. Originally, she started with the department because she needed a job. It was convenient in West Little Rock so she had an easy commute.
“Working at ARDOT has given me the opportunity to be a public servant and to help others,” Tudor said.
She sees transportation as a vital part of people’s lives.
“You can’t put a price on the safety of our roads,” she said.
Tudor considers what she does meaningful and rewarding work.
She feels the director position was a natural step in her career, but never actually expected it. She did not expect the previous director, Scott Bennett, to retire before she did. She said it feels like she is living a dream.
Tudor has a few simple goals for her tenure as director.
“I want the department to continue to the effort in becoming an employer of choice. Employees are the foundation of any good organization,” she said.
She wants the department to have an environment where employees feel like family, feel
valued and feel grateful for their employment at the department.
Tudor believes achieving that goal will make her other goal easy to accomplish — a positive image with the people of the state and the legislature.
“It is important they are confident that we are doing all we can to maximize the use of taxpayer dollars in order to fulfill their expectations for a transportation system that is in a state of good repair and is meeting the needs of the traveling public and the economy,” Tudor said.
She is working to educate and advocate for
Issue 1, which is on the November ballot, extending a half-cent sales tax that has been in place since 2012. The issue would continue the tax instead of ending it in 2023. Funds from the tax will be split with 70 percent going to ARDOT and the other 30 percent going to cities and counties for road construction and maintenance.
“Issue 1 addresses the road funding problem that has been growing over the last few decades,” Tudor said.
ARDOT’S primary revenue source is a flat tax on fuel consumption. As vehicles become more fuel efficient, there are more cars on the road using less fuel.
This means ARDOT’S revenues have stayed flat while the cost of construction has risen.
“This is a bad combination,” Tudor said.
She sees Issue 1 as a great solution because it will provide sustainable revenue. That will give ARDOT, cities and counties the confidence they need to make long-term plans.
If it passes, 76 percent of the funds will be spent on maintaining existing infrastructure, such as pavement and bridges. The funds will also be used for capital and congestion relief projects. Those projects include completion of the Arkansas 5 corridor widening between Benton and Little Rock and improvements to Interstate-430.
The tax does not apply to groceries, motor fuels or medicine.
She emphasized this is not a new tax, but a continuation of a tax that is already in place.
While this vote would remove the sunset from the current tax, Tudor pointed out that if Arkansas voters vote it in, they can just as easily vote it out again if they feel ARDOT is not using it the way it should be.
With all funds, Tudor said ARDOT works hard to be good stewards.
“Much has been done to improve and we continue to work to become more and more efficient,” Tudor said.
At the end of the year, ARDOT plans to launch a new website to provide information on efficiency and betterment initiatives.
Tudor said ARDOT has implemented several practices to speed up projects. Contractors with projects in overtime are not permitted to bid on additional jobs. Contractors must use critical path scheduling for major projects. Projects are chosen using cost, plus time bidding. The amount of time given to complete a project has been reduced. Contractors are given incentives to finish early and have to pay disincentives for each day they go over the scheduled time.
Tudor said she knows there is a stereotype of road workers not doing their jobs, but she said these are people working long hours in the public eye. Every break they take, when they eat lunch or gather to meet, people see it and misinterpret as them not working. She added there may be times in the process there is a job only one person can do at a time that must be done before work can continue or workers may be waiting for a cement deliver that has been held up.
She explained construction workers are paid by the contractor. ARDOT pays for the completed work. The only ARDOT employees on site are there to inspect, not perform the work.
Tudor expects the widening of Interstate 30 from Sevier Street in Benton to Arkansas 70 to be complete in late 2022. While there have been minor delays, there is a plan to recover and get the project on schedule.
Tudor is excited to serve the state as director and hopes voters will approve Issue 1.