State gets $9 million for fixing highways

Grant to repair areas damaged by storms

The Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department received $ 9 million from the federal government for costs associated with the cleanup and repair of state highways damaged from storms last spring, the state’s congressional delegation announced Thursday.

The money is the second of what state highway officials expect to be three installments. The department received $1 million last November. It asked for a total of $12.7 million to repair roads damaged from severe storms, flooding and tornadoes.

“Repairing and reconstructing our storm-damaged roads has required considerable time, manpower, and funds,” U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor, D-ark., the state’s senior senator, said in a prepared statement. “In conjunction

with the $1 million in federal assistance already provided by the Department of Transportation, these funds will help speed up recovery efforts and help our communities get back on their feet. This grant is a perfect example of how federal dollars can be reinvested to support local needs.”

The bulk of the money will be used to pay contractors for work on two projects in Boone and Carroll counties, said Glenn Bolick, a department spokesman.

The Boone County project will reconstruct about a half mile of Arkansas 43 south of Harrison to repair damage from a slide. Slides can involve instances where the roadway concrete or asphalt can slip off its base or where material from the side of a hill can slide across the roadway, Bolick said. Kesser International Inc. of Little Rock was awarded the $ 3,394,978.20 contract.

The project in Carroll County also is a slide repair. Heavy Constructors of Arkansas LLC of Berryville was awarded the $470,015.27 contract to reconstruct a section of Arkansas 62 west of Eureka Springs.

Those project awards were made in December. The state will use the money announced Thursday to pay the contractors as the work progresses, Bolick said. The rest of the work was performed by state highway employees. The costs of their labor and materials are eligible for federal reimbursement whenever the federal government declares an area a federal disaster area.

The department tallied 84 separate projects related to storm cleanup and repair in 29 counties. Thirty-nine of the projects were confined to six counties in Northwest Arkansas, which includes Boone and Carroll counties.

Washington County led the way with 14 projects, mostly for erosion repairs on roadways and slopes. Those projects totaled an estimated $800,000, including an estimated $387,900 to repair erosions on roadway and slope on Arkansas 59. Madison County had the second most projects at 10. The estimated cost of those projects totaled nearly $700,000.

Four projects in Pulaski County were eligible for reimbursements totaling about $100,000. Slope or roadway damage from the storms were found on single sections of U.S. 67 and Arkansas 300 and two sections of Arkansas 365.

The U.S. Department of Transportation, which issued the money, said eligible work includes repairs to restore traffic, minimize the extent of storm damage, protect remaining facilities, and restore highways to their pre-disaster condition.