Congress Passes New Transportation Bill

[Arkansawyer]

According to Sen. Pryor, Arkansas received $1.04 for every dollar spent on federal gasoline taxes.

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette listed the earmarks by Congressional District. The big winner was the 4th District (South Arkansas), which hauled in big money for the construction of I-69. The 3rd District (West/Northwest Arkansas) did very well too, scoring the most money for two projects in Benton County. The 1st District (East/Northeast) and 2nd District (Central Arkansas) did pretty poorly compared to the other two districts. Now, Mith, that should mean no more complaining from you about your corner of the state being ignored.

I added up the earmarked projects, and got these numbers for each district:

1st District: $37.4 million

2nd District: $37.97 million

3rd District: $139.66344 million

4th District: $183.6 million

$13 million dollars are earmarked for connecting the future I-30 to U.S. 49 in the 1st District. What, are there plans to expand I-30 to the east? Hopefully, someone can explain this. I also have seen that there is talk of an I-30 in North Carolina, which is completely confusing.

The largest chunk the 2nd District received was $15 million dollars for improving the I-430/I-630 interchange in Little Rock. As most of y'all on this forum have seen, a firm that studied this interchange found that $61 million would be necessary to improve the area. This interchange was built in the 1970s when there was little development out that way, but the area is booming with most of the city's growth today. It is one of the three busiest intersections in Arkansas; the other two are in Little Rock or North Little Rock as well. It's too bad that this part of the state received such paltry funds considering the area's urgent needs. Some of these roads are just dangerous.

The 3rd District is receiving $37 million for the Bella Vista bypass, which will become part of I-49. $35 million will also be used to widen Eight Street in Bentoville to five lanes. Johnson Road from U.S. 412 to I-540 will be improved at a cost of $16 million.

Now, for the monster-sized pork. $75 million will go towards planning and constructing I-69, including the Great River Bridge, in the 4th District. The total cost of the bridge will be $200 million. Another $72 million will go towards extending I-530 south to Wilmar, which I'm assuming would connect to I-69 in the future. Some good news for Hot Springs is that $10 million will be spent on an arterial road connecting U.S. 70 and Arkansas 7 to ease congestion.

It appears that the amount of funds are given based on how much a state receives total, rather than looking at individual districts. Since so much money is being spent on developing I-69, there just isn't much of the pie left to go around. Conway, for example has horrible traffic problems, and got a measly $2.4 million for that elusive arterial loop on the western side of the city, and that money is for engineering, planning, etc. Good grief, and this plan will last for five years before new funds are distributed!

[johnnydr87]

Glad for the Hot Springs thing.

Glad for I-69.

A little dissappointed with the lack of funds for Central AR.

great thread.

[Mith242]

According to Sen. Pryor, Arkansas received $1.04 for every dollar spent on federal gasoline taxes.

The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette listed the earmarks by Congressional District. The big winner was the 4th District (South Arkansas), which hauled in big money for the construction of I-69. The 3rd District (West/Northwest Arkansas) did very well too, scoring the most money for two projects in Benton County. The 1st District (East/Northeast) and 2nd District (Central Arkansas) did pretty poorly compared to the other two districts. Now, Mith, that should mean no more complaining from you about your corner of the state being ignored. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

No I can still complain.

It does help but there's still so much more to do. I'd like to see more money for my county.

[Mith242]

I am glad they are getting I-69 going, but that also means there's not going to be much money for the rest of the state. Which of course isn't what people in northwest Arkansas want to hear. That money for a bypass around Bella Vista still only covers half the cost. Which means it will probably have to be a toll road to get it finished. It would also be nice to see some money eventually for the rest of I-540. They also keep talking about a Hwy 412 bypass around Springdale that's never happened. But I guess I can't complain about that because I know central Arkansas really could use a lot more also.

[arkansas_buff]

Some may say NEA was short changed a little with the bill, but you have to understand. The biggest projects here have already been funded for the most part and are underway.

They include:

Widening Hwy 18 from Jonesboro to Blytheville to 5 lanes- mostly completed

Upgrading US 63 to I-555- partially completed; still under construction

Widening US 412 East of Paragould to MO bootheel to 5 lanes- under construction

Widening US 412 West of Paragould to AR 141 to 5 lanes- under construction

Widening US 63 from Jonesboro to Hoxie to 5 lanes- under construction

US 67 bypass around Walnut Ridge- completed

US 412 bypass around Hardy- under construction

A project still coming down the pike is widening US 49 North in Paragould to 5 lanes.

All of these projects have already been funded, so there's not as much need here for hundreds of millions of dollars in highway money... although we'd take it!

[johnnydr87]

Great news.........Hot Springs has gotten a step closer to widening Higdon Ferry. Right now, Central Ave. is the main artery of the city, and ALWAYS bumper to bumper. Higdon ferry is a two lane road that runs nearly parallel to Central.

The city's in the planning stage of widening the road.

Transforming a section of Higdon Ferry Road from a two-lane, highly congested byway into a five-lane thoroughfare moved closer to reality Friday.

More than $6.56 million of the $2.3 billion Transportation Reauthorization Bill approved by the House of Representatives has been designated for the Higdon Ferry project from King Expressway south to Central Avenue, but construction is still about two years away, City Manager Kent Myers said Monday.

"I would anticipate being in touch with the highway department sometime in the next two weeks to get a better idea on how this funding will be appropriated, but they have said from the beginning that even though it is a five- or six-year funding from the federal government, they would front the money so we can go ahead and get going," Myers said.

More: http://www.hotsr.com/ShowStoryTemplate.asp...01&ver=standard (subscription required)

[Mith242]

You know I just thought of this. Maybe it would be great if some of us could find some city street maps to let others see where exactly some of these streets mentioned are. I wish I would have thought of this sooner when I was talking about road projects in Fayetteville.

[johnnydr87]

http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=34.456571,-...,0.039669&hl=en

There's where they want to widen it....From the MLK expressway to the place where it merges with Central.