Page 43 - ATR 5 2020 digital

— — — SPECIAL SERIES ON HIGHWAY DOLLARS AND SENSE — — —

into our state Constitution. It’s not a ELECTION DAY: NOV. 3, 2020
controversial stance to want to revere
and preserve our most fundamental For your polling place: www.voterview.ar-nova.org
state text. In fact, just down the ballot,
Issue 3 proposes to make it more
difficult for lawmakers and petitioners
to change the Constitution. in traffic, and paying increased shipping If funding expires in 2023, how do
The infrastructure funding rates for the freight that is hauled on we improve the 626 bridges with one
shortfall is not a new problem, for crumbling roads. of the key elements in poor or worse
which the first possible solution was It’s on the ballot now, and we have condition? Arkansas already ranks 25th
to amend the Constitution as an easy the chance to decide if we can be patient in the number of structurally deficient
fix. The estimated $478 million gap waiting for a perfect solution or if we bridges according to the American Road
has been growing for decades. Before can be practical solving our problems & Transportation Builders Association.
last year, the dedicated funding source, now with the tools on the table. Some of our worst bridges were built
fuel taxes, had not been increased since more than 60 years ago and bear more
1999 despite inflation in the cost to PROTECTING AN ESSENTIAL than 100,000 crossings every day.
build and maintain roads. Governor RESOURCE. Repairing the 2,598 bridges in need
Hutchinson proposed a multi-approach Fortunately, almost everyone agrees carries a $1.7 billion price tag.
plan: increase gas and diesel taxes and that highways and bridges are essential In the 2017 Infrastructure Report
index to inflation, collect taxes from to our way of life. Opponents of Issue 1 Card, the American Society of Civil
newly approved casinos, and collect might tell you that trucking is driving Engineers graded the nation’s bridges
registration fees on hybrid and electric this priority, but we are all stakeholders a C+ and the roads, a D. Seventeen
vehicles. in the roads throughout our state and percent of Arkansas’s 102,603 miles of
The final piece of the plan communities. public roads were found to be in poor
identified a temporary half-cent For the trucking industry, the condition.
sales tax that voters approved in the highways are the office, it’s true. But
November 2012 election. If Arkansans roads carry school buses to take kids to VOTE FOR ROADS. VOTE FOR
agree to not let this tax expire in classrooms or sports events around the JOBS. VOTE FOR RECOVERY.
2023, we make a commitment that state, roads allow farmers to get their It is expensive to clear sightlines,
we will always value and fund the crops to market, roads connect families add a lane, change the grade of a hill,
infrastructure that connects us. It is with one another, and on and on. and make the improvements that keep
a long-term, sustainable solution for Over 86 percent of communities drivers safe. But a vote for Issue 1 can
a long-term resource like highways depend on trucks and surface address economic recovery that the state
and bridges, pledged in a long-term transportation for all the food, needs. Continuing the half-cent sales
document. medicine and goods they consume. tax is expected to support 3,600 jobs
In 2019, legislators worked Roads are as essential as pipes to bring each year and provide $8.2 billion of
together and overwhelmingly passed water and wire to bring electricity. economic activity over ten years.
the other pieces of the Governor’s plan, We all deserve access to well-funded, Without it, funding is expected
but they left the choice of continuing future-proofed, safe, smooth routes. to fall 30 percent. Cities and counties
the sales tax to their constituents could lose over $40 million a year.
because it was voters who chose to SAFETY IN NUMBERS From 30,000 ft., voting for roads
implement the original sales tax eight We have spent the better part of is about safety, economic progress,
years ago. a year trying to be safe and protect necessity, and urgency, but from your
It is a perfectly reasonable stance to ourselves from sickness and injury. For driveway, it may be about less time in
want elected officials to take care of our six months, Gov. Hutchinson held a traffic and more time with family or
public infrastructure instead of turning daily press conference to share numbers a wider shoulder around a dangerous
the decision over to voters. It is also as evidence of the public’s progress or mountain route. Wherever you’re going,
reasonable to point out that while we elevated risk. If we look to the data on vote for the road that will take you there.
wait another 20 years for Congress to the number of bridges and roads that At Arkansas Trucking Association,
make it a priority, we will individually are in poor condition today, the state we encourage you to make sure you are
be shouldering the cost to repair our has room for improvement and an registered to vote, know your polling
vehicles after hitting potholes, waiting opportunity to be much safer. place, and learn about the issues. ATR

ARKANSAS TRUCKING REPORT | Issue 5 2020 43