Infrastructure investments help Arkansas build a stronger future

Investing in repairing, upgrading, and modernizing our core infrastructure is one of the most important things we can do to create jobs, support local businesses, spur economic growth, and improve quality of life for all those lucky enough to call Arkansas home. For that reason, it is critical that we continue to support ongoing infrastructure development that translates into a stronger, more robust economy for our region and our entire state.

That is what makes passage of the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law—the investments from which are still making their way to Arkansas communities, including Texarkana— so important to the economic future of our state and nation. Through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, Arkansas will receive approximately $3.9 billion in federal funding over five years specifically for our highways and bridges, which will have a profoundly positive impact on economic development efforts statewide.

To date, $1.5 billion worth of investments have been announced in our state to help build or repair new roads and bridges, advance roadway safety, and move several highway projects forward. That includes $6.18 million to help upgrade and improve 245-Highway 67 in Texarkana. These investments will help support and create local jobs in the construction industry as well as up and down the supply chain, while improving the quality of our roads and highways to make life a little easier for Arkansans and facilitating interstate and intrastate commerce.

Additionally, through the bipartisan infrastructure law, the Texarkana Regional Airport is set to receive roughly $4.28 million to build a new terminal and help advance a number of other improvement projects that will help create good-paying jobs while supporting smoother, more reliable, and more regular air travel in and out of our region.

As a former Arkansas state legislator and former highway commissioner, I understand that investments in Arkansas’ core infrastructure needs are helping to ensure communities throughout the state can move forward on critical projects that will yield tangible economic, environmental, and quality-of-life benefits.

However, as important as these infrastructure investments are to our future, there remains a major hurdle in the way: our broken federal permitting process, which can delay critical projects from moving forward and delay or prevent their positive impact from reaching our communities. Sadly, the permitting and siting of infrastructure projects has become an overly burdensome endeavor, with environmental reviews alone potentially taking up to a decade to complete.

Additionally, overlapping and often duplicative local, state, and federal review processes and bureaucratic red tape create inefficiencies that not only delay the actual construction of critical infrastructure projects, but can also increase costs, undermine financial viability, and increase risk for investors, which can reduce any incentive for them to invest.

By passing federal permitting reform, Congress can help ensure major infrastructure projects here in Arkansas and across the country continue to move forward without unnecessary delays. And for the record, passing permitting reform does not mean we have to loosen the high environmental standards that the United States maintains. It simply means making sure the approvals process is more efficient, predictable, and coordinated to reduce duplication of efforts and cut through the government red tape.

The good news is that passage of the infrastructure law proved that there is bipartisan will still left to get things done on the federal level. Now, we just need Congress to follow through. If we are ever to see the completion of building I49 in Arkansas and reap the many benefits that will bring our state we must see continued investments in infrastructure. Join me in urging our congressional delegation to work with their colleagues on both sides of the aisle to pass federal permitting reform and continued infrastructure investments to bring new employment, economic opportunities, and prosperity to Arkansas.