State officials continue work toward I-69 corridor

LITTLE ROCK—Arkansas officials have applied for discretionary federal transportation money to be used to complete the longplanned Interstate 69 corridor through the southern part of the state.

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports that if the application is successful, the federal money, along with state funds, would total $25 million. It would go toward development of the corridor segment between the Monticello Bypass and the Mississippi River, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reports.

The corridor, which was designated by Congress as a “high-priority corridor of national significance,” will be about 2,680 miles, including 189 miles in Arkansas. The corridor will extend from Mexico to Canada.

The project is estimated to cost $30 billion to complete.

The Arkansas Highway and Transportation reports that the segment that will run through the state will cost an estimated $3 billion.

Arkansas Highway Commission member Robert Moore said that the application was submitted so that the proposed Great River Bridge’s construction can get under way. The estimated cost of the bridge is $1.3 billion, of which Arkansas is responsible for about $910 million.

Lo Walker, president of the I-69 Mid-Continent Coalition, said that getting the bridge should be a priority.

The application for the I-69 segment in Arkansas is competing with other transportation projects around the country. Jeff Lindley, an associate administrator for the Federal Highway Administration in Washington, D.C, said there were about 800 applications for one grant program.

The application for the corridor project not only has to be a “game changer,” it has to use numbers to show the project is (a game changer),” Lindley said. “How many lives will it save? How many crashes won’t happen if the corridor is built?”