Broadway Bridge proposal goes to JPS

A Pulaski County Quorum Court committee on Tuesday unanimously recommended Pulaski County Judge Buddy Villines’ proposal to use $20 million in road and bridge money to pay for enhancements to a new Broadway Bridge on the Arkansas River between Little Rock and North Little Rock.

The proposal, to include an enhanced double-arched design, fell short in a second committee.

The Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department has only agreed to replace the bridge with a safe, efficient and functional bridge that would cost an estimated $59 million. If anyone wanted the double-arches, the $20 million for it would

have to come from another source, the department said.

The Quorum Court’s Administration Committee voted 7-0 to recommend the ordinance “expressing the willingness of Pulaski County to share [the] cost” of the bridge to the full Quorum Court, which meets Jan. 22. The Quorum Court’s County Services Committee voted 4-2 in favor of the proposal with two abstentions. It needed five votes in that committee, which has eight members. A recommendation from one committee is enough to advance the proposal to the full Quorum Court. After the back-to-back

1 meetings that lasted about 2⁄

2 hours, Villines said he “felt good” about the votes, noting one of the justices of the peace who abstained told him afterward he would have voted for the measure had he realized it wouldn’t get out of committee.

“Eleven people voted for it,” Villines said of the 15-member Quorum Court. “There’s still 12 sponsors, so, yes, I feel good about it.”

Under a proposed agreement of understanding between Pulaski County and the Highway Department, the county would pay the $20 million in three virtually equal payments over three years beginning with a payment of $6,666,666 after construction bids are received but before the contract is awarded. The two remaining $6,666,667 payments would be submitted one and two years after the initial payment, according to the proposed agreement.

The county has enough money on hand and anticipated in future years to make those payments without jeopardizing its road and bridge priorities in the unincorporated areas of the county, Villines said.

To pay for the county’s share of the new bridge, Villines said he would tap the county’s road and bridge reserve, which now totals $9 million. The county sets aside about $1.5 million annually to provide local match funds with other money that may become available or “to be in a position to address a good project that would not happen otherwise,” Villines said in a memorandum he prepared for the justices of the peace. He also would steer the $1.5 million designated for the reserve over the next four years to pay for the bridge, or an additional $6 million.

Villines also anticipates that the recently approved temporary half-percent statewide sales tax for road construction will produce $2.5 million each year for the next 10 years for the county. His proposal envisions taking its share of the money in 2014, 2015 and 2016.

Altogether, the financial maneuvers would produce an estimated $22.5 million, which also would provide the county some wiggle room if some money didn’t come in as anticipated, Villines said.

The roughly $15 million the county receives annually in road and bridge money from real estate taxes, state turnback and other sources would remain untouched throughout the life of the agreement and will be devoted to road and bridge needs in the unincor- porated areas of the county, Villines said. For instance, he added, the county is moving ahead with plans to replace two bridges on Kanis Road in west Pulaski County at a cost of about $5 million over the next two years.

Villines’ proposal came after months of wrangling over replacing the 90-year-old crossing after the Highway Department concluded three years ago that the bridge’s increasingly costly maintenance made clear it should be replaced. Many in the community saw an opportunity to replace the bridge with a signature design, but in the end only Villines and the mayors of Little Rock and North Little Rock reached a broad agreement late last year to incorporate the two arches into the design.

But in a letter to Villines last month that was mailed to the justices of the peace this month, Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola and then-North Little Rock Mayor Patrick Hays said they objected to Villines’ additional proposal to paint the bridge red, white and blue to honor the nation’s veterans and to mark the fact that the bridge it would replace was dedicated in 1922 to veterans of World War I.

Justice of the Peace Shane Stacks said his first thought upon reading the letter from the two mayors was “if you’re not ponying up, put a cork in it.”

But Villines said when he said it was a community project, he included the residents of Little Rock and North Little Rock, who are residents of the county, too.

Three people from the community spoke against the proposal at both committee meetings: state Rep.-elect Doug House, R-North Little Rock; Gip Robertson, a retired state Highway Department executive; and Todd Boroughs, a Little Rock architect.

House said his legislative colleagues expressed concern that Pulaski County had enough money to spend on Broadway Bridge extras while other counties, even with the increased state aid, continue to struggle to maintain their roads and bridges.

Robertson and Boroughs both said the double arches amounted to $20 million worth of ornaments. Robertson preferred the department design, while Boroughs said it remained possible to save the existing bridge.