Page 19 - ATR 6 2018 web

Who Can Find the Best Route

to Better Roads?

Arkansans aren’t waiting on Washington for an infrastructure plan

By Steve Brawner
Contributing Writer

Now that the elections are over,
the prospects for major highway invest-
ments are increasingly hopeful in Little
Rock and maybe even in Washington,
D.C.
At the state level, Gov. Asa
Hutchinson emphasized highways dur-
ing his re-election campaign and has
pledged to make them a top priority
during the 2019 legislative session.
Speaking to the Good Roads
Foundation Nov. 13, the newly re-
elected governor said, “My purpose of
being here today is to tell you that I am
fully committed to a highway plan for
Arkansas’ future.”
Such a declaration is music to the I’VE SAID VERY CLEARLY WE SHOULD NOT
ears of both the state’s motor carri- BE DIPPING INTO GENERAL REVENUES
ers, who make a living on the state’s TO FUND HIGHWAYS.”
potholed, congested highways, and the
Arkansas Department of Transportation
(ARDOT), which says it has $9.3 billion —GOV. ASA HUTCHINSON
in funding needs for maintenance and
improvements over the next 10 years,
but only $4.5 billion in expected rev- have to be approved by voters. tax enacted by 58 percent of the voters
enues. “It might take some time,” he told in 2012 to fund the highway-widening
That $4.8 billion shortfall has reporters after his speech Nov. 13. “It Connecting Arkansas Program. That
been confirmed by legislative audi- might not be before the legislative ses- tax, which raises $170-$180 million
tors. Meanwhile, a working group sion begins, but we all know what the annually, expires in 2023.
Hutchinson appointed in 2016 set a end goal is, and there’s an incredible He told the Good Roads Foundation
long-term goal of increasing highway amount of support for it in the public that infrastructure investments must
funding by $400 million annually. and in the industry, in mayors and include new construction. He men-
counties, but the Legislature has got to tioned the long-awaited completion of
THE TIME IS RIGHT figure out the exact way to fund the I-49 down the state’s western edge, I-69
The details await legislative con- highway program.” across southern Arkansas, and a route
sensus, but Hutchinson said the climate Hutchinson did specifically men- from Jonesboro to Northwest Arkansas.
is right for a major investment in the tion one funding mechanism he would Those projects would be above and
state’s roadways that would probably support: extending the half-cent sales 

ARKANSAS TRUCKING REPORT | Issue 6 2018 19