Highway repair programs praised

Agency chief says promises exceeded

The Arkansas Department of Transportation is closing the books on its $1.3 billion interstate repair program after awarding contracts in 54 separate projects totaling 358 miles, or almost half of the state’s freeway system.

“We have exceeded our promises,” Lorie Tudor, the agency’s director, said Wednesday.

Tudor also said the department’s Connecting Arkansas Program, a now nearly $2 billion construction effort targeting regionally significant projects, also is on track to have all its projects awarded contracts.

“We’re getting closer to getting every project under contract,” she said. “We have met our commitment. We have kept our promises.”

Tudor’s comments came as the Arkansas Highway Commission mulls holding another series of regional meetings as part of a public outreach for Issue 1, a ballot initiative that would make permanent the 0.5 percent sales tax used to help pay for the Connecting Arkansas Program.

The tax, approved by voters in 2012, is scheduled to expire in 2023 unless voters approve Issue 1 this fall.

The commission held a series of regional meetings earlier this year to make residents aware of Issue 1 and what it would mean for their areas in terms of projects.

Nine were held before three others were postponed because of the

covid-19 pandemic and social-distancing protocols that rendered the commission unable to hold the meetings.

Keith Gibson, a commission member from Fort Smith, said the nine meetings weren’t well attended but suggested voters would be more engaged and apt to attend if held later in the year.

Under the commission’s proposal, money from Issue 1, if it passed, would be combined with the department’s regular construction program, which relies on revenue largely from state fuel taxes and registration fees and its share of federal fuel taxes.

That would allow the department over 10 years to spend $3 billion on pavement preservation, $1.1 billion on bridge replacement and preservation, $1 billion on interstate maintenance and $500 million on safety improvements.

That would leave about $3 billion over 20 years to spend on a new Connecting Arkansas Program and focus on capital projects.

Another $500 million would be set aside over that span for unanticipated congestion-relief projects, acquiring rights of way and relocating utilities.

“I would not be opposed to going back out all over the state,” Gibson said. “This is so critical to me and my area. We can’t leave one stone unturned in keeping people engaged.”

The commission members say completion of the interstate repair and Connecting Arkansas programs will help them make a case for Issue 1.

A total of 54 projects were awarded contracts since voters in 2011 approved allowing the Arkansas Highway Commission to issue up to $575 million in bonds to help finance what the agency calls the Interstate Repair Program.

The projects covered 358 miles, or about 47 percent of the state’s system of interstates, and cost $1.3 billion.

A total of 48 projects covering 311 miles and costing almost $1.1 billion have been completed. Six projects covering 47 miles and worth $265 million remain under construction.

The Connecting Arkansas Program has 31 projects covering 165 miles and worth an estimated $1.98 billion.

Of those, 14 covering 72 miles and costing $620 million have been completed. Another 14 projects totaling 83 miles and costing $1.2 billion are under construction.

The final three projects, which total 10 miles and will cost an estimated $119 million, are scheduled to be awarded contracts next year, Tudor said.