Road projects on back burner; stalled bill cited as reason

Bids will be opened on Feb. 21 as scheduled on a reduced total of 32 projects worth an estimated $67.2 million.

The Arkansas Department of Transportation has pulled a dozen road construction projects from its bid-letting in February, citing the inability of Congress to come up with a transportation spending bill for the federal fiscal year that began Oct. 1.

Although Congress has continued to fund the U.S. government under a series of what are known as continuing resolutions, the funding levels under such stopgap measures are lower than funding levels set out in the five-year highway bill Congress passed in 2015.

The most recent continuing resolution was signed into law Monday by President Donald Trump. It ended a three-day partial government shutdown and funds the government through Feb. 8.

Most road construction projects in Arkansas are built using a mix of federal and state money. Federal money can be used to pay up to 80 percent of the cost of Arkansas routes on the national highway system.

Bids will be opened on Feb. 21 as scheduled on a reduced total of 32 projects worth an estimated $67.2 million.

Scott Bennett, the department’s director, made the recommendation to withdraw the 12 projects before the most recent government shutdown.

“Due to the lower level of authorized funding and a partial year’s obligation authority, we are forced to begin delaying projects until funding becomes available,” Bennett told the Arkansas Highway Commission in a memo dated Jan. 17.

The projects are scattered throughout the state and mostly involved heavy maintenance in which contractors add another layer of asphalt to extend the life of the roadway before it must be fully rebuilt. Other projects involve making safety improvements to selected sections, such as treatments that provide more traction on wet pavement.

Bennett said that until Congress passes a budget for the federal fiscal year that began Oct. 1, department officials will continue to re-evaluate its available balance of federal money before each bid-letting to determine which projects will be advertised for bids and awarded contracts.

This isn’t the first time the department has delayed bidding on projects. The most recent delays came in 2015 when 87 projects worth an estimated $411 million were pulled from bid-lettings. They

were eventually awarded contracts.

“We’ve been through this before,” Danny Straessle, the department spokesman, said Tuesday. “With the uncertainty, we felt it was the prudent thing to do.”

Department officials don’t want to be in a situation where they award projects or have work started on projects for which they don’t have the money, he said.

“The continuing resolutions are not helping us plan anything,” Straessle said.

Like 2015, the projects eventually will be awarded contracts.

“The projects will still happen,” Straessle said. “We’ve never not awarded contracts that were delayed. They will be reinstated when there is a more solid footing moving forward.”

The projects on which bids will be opened Feb. 21 include work to widen a section of U.S. 167 north from Arkansas 274 in Calhoun County at a cost estimated at between $20 million and $30 million and to widen a section of U.S. 82 between U.S. 425 and Hamburg in Ashley County at a cost estimated between $15 million and $20 million.