A paved power grab

‘Politicians don’t like non-political highways’

“Politicians don’t like non-political highways” read the headline in the March 17, 1957, Arkansas Democrat.

It had been seven years since Arkansas voters passed a constitutional change known even today as the Mack- Blackwell Amendment, a response to public dissatisfaction with the way the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department ran under Gov. Sid McMath. A 1951 audit of the agency found “shocking waste, extravagance and overall inefficiency.”

So voters in 1952 decided to give the Highway Commission its autonomy from day-to-day politics at the state Capitol. The commission couldn’t establish any taxation on its own — that still required legislative support — but it did have decision-making authority over how highway funding was allocated across the state.

Nearly two years after the headline above was published, a 32-yearold Associated Press writer, J.R. Starr (known to Arkansas history followers as John Robert of Arkansas Democrat fame), published a story that detailed the transition of the Highway Department from its first director under the new amendment, Herbert Eldridge, to an acting director, R.B. Winfrey.

“Eldridge’s resignation may have been caused by legislators’ pressure,” Starr wrote. “Eldridge, while catching little criticism for his skill as a roadbuilder, was not known for extreme tact in handling members of the General Assembly, some of whom had been accustomed to getting pet road projects in pre-Eldridge days.”

Next year will be 70 years since that powerful amendment tried — and to a great degree, succeeded — in getting the worst kinds of politics out of Arkansas road-building. The commission’s five members today are appointed by the governor to staggered 10-year terms, a period that well serves the state’s highway needs.

After all, transportation planning is a long-term business. Just consider the number of years some of Northwest Arkansas’ projects have required before they could be completed. Considering that so much interaction with federal highway officials, as well as federal funding, is required, it only makes sense that commissioners serve terms long enough to connect the big-picture dots.

It seems Arkansas is, again, in the midst of some debate over the autonomy of the Highway Commission. In a recent speech to the Arkansas Good Roads Foundation, term-limited Gov. Asa Hutchinson urged the audience to work to protect the independence of the Arkansas Highway Commission.

He didn’t cite a specific threat, but he encouraged those listening to be a voice for the agency’s independence and educate the public about the history that necessitated an independent commission to begin with.

For seven decades, it seems the commission’s autonomy has regularly been attacked. And it’s no big surprise. Spending on highways usually comes in millions and, eventually, billions, and where there’s money, there’s usually a desire among some state lawmakers to insert themselves into decisions of how the money will be spent.

State Rep. Jim Dotson of Bentonville, for example, sponsored House Joint Resolution 1009 in the last legislative session to give the Legislature more control over what the commission can and can’t do. It would have given the state Senate the power to reject a gubernatorial appointment. His proposal died in committee once the session formally ended last month.

It’s the plight of the Arkansas Highway Commission to periodically come under attack. Back in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the trucking industry was upset at the possibility that some interstates might be made into toll roads. So they pressed to have the Highway Commission abolished. “We have a political monarchy in Arkansas, and it’s the Highway Commission,” said Lane Crider, who was then the Arkansas Trucking Association’s president.

The Mack-Blackwell Amendment has held up all these years as one of the more sane responses to corruption. Why ditch it now?

Naturally, the question to ask when change is proposed is where the power will shift and where will the money go. Giving the Legislature more sway will lead to more short-term thinking. Politicians certainly may not like non-political highways, but it’s safe to say many politicians will act based on when the next election is rather than for the long-term good of the state’s system of highways.

The voters in 1952, by a 3- to-1 margin, decided it was best to insulate the Highway Commission from short-term politics so its members can concentrate on the long-term transportation needs of the state. It was a good idea then and remains so 70 years later.

The Mack-Blackwell Amendment has served as the guard rails of transportation planning and construction for years, helping keep the state out of the ditches of political decision-making involving roads. It’s best to keep those guard rails up.