LITTLE ROCK — Pulaski County Judge Buddy Villines on Wednesday unveiled his proposal for a red-white-and-blue Broadway Bridge and said he plans to offer a $20 million commitment from the county to pay for the double-arch design.
“Pulaski County will find a way to come up with the funds,” Villines told the Metroplan board of directors at a meeting in Little Rock. “If that means going it alone, we may do that.”
By a voice vote, the board of the long-range planning agency unanimously endorsed Villines’ design, including the color scheme that the county judge said would trans- form the merely functional bridge into a patriotic symbol, known as “America’s Bridge,” that would draw visitors from around the country.
The board includes representatives of county and city governments from Faulkner, Grant, Lonoke, Pulaski and Saline counties.
In interviews after the meeting, however, the mayors of Little Rock and North Little Rock said they weren’t ready to endorse the bright colors.
The mayors said they liked the idea of a bridge that would honor the country’s veterans. Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola said he supports Villines’ proposal to equip the bridge with colored lights.
“I think the idea of maximum flexibility on color patterns is something that I would be in favor of,” Stodola said. “I think you could do a lot with lights and might not need to do the required maintenance” that the paint would entail.
Stodola said he planned to gather opinions on the design from the city’s Board of Directors.
North Little Rock Mayor Patrick Hays said he wanted the City Council and Mayorelect Joe Smith to weigh in on it.
The City Council, he said, will likely “want to get a broader audience in terms of the public feeling from our city and give them [the public] an opportunity to comment,” Hays said.
Smith said late Wednesday that he hadn’t yet seen the design, and would want to study it and talk with Villines before commenting on it.
“Judge Villines has made a lot of great decisions in the past, and I’ll certainly look at his idea and get a feel of our community and what they think,” Smith said.
Villines presented his design as an effort to settle the months-long debate over replacing the 90-year-old span over the Arkansas River between Little Rock and North Little Rock. The Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department has described the current bridge as costly to maintain and “functionally obsolete.”
The department has said the cities and county would have to cover any costs above what would be required to build a standard, plate-girder bridge — estimated at $58 million.
In September, the department, Villines, Stodola and Hays agreed on the twin-arch design, saying the local entities would cover the additional $20 million that would be needed for its construction.
Exactly where that money would come from wasn’t specified, however.
Highway Department spokesman Randy Ort said Wednesday that the department needs a commitment on the additional funding by the end of this week.
Otherwise, he said, the department will direct its consultant, Garver LLC of North Little Rock, to begin work on a plate-girder design.
He said the department must have federal funds for the project obligated by Sept. 30, 2013, the end of the federal fiscal year.
“We need to be moving forward,” Ort said.
At the Metroplan meeting, Villines showed renderings of a bridge with a bright red span and white supports. The south arch would be white, and the north one would be blue.
A wall bordering a 20-footwide bicycle and pedestrian path would be decorated with a series of stars, one above the name of each state.
The wall also would bear the names of Medal of Honor winners who have connections to Arkansas, as well as “famous quotations from Americans” about freedom and peace, Villines said.
Also, the names of other Medal of Honor winners could be featured in an electronic kiosk, Villines said.
Changeable banners above the bicycle and pedestrian pathway could feature the branches of the armed services or advertise events such as the Riverfest music festival.
“You’re welcomed and invited by warm colors,” Villines said as he showed a rendering of the walkway. “It provides an opportunity to create a place, a place where people will want to be.”
The electronically controlled colored lights, similar to those on the Big Dam Bridge, would allow for light shows on special occasions.
The bridge would be “dedicated to those who fought for freedom and worked for peace,” Villines said.
“Regardless of where you live, regardless of your diversity, regardless of how we argue over issues large and small, in the end, we’re united as one within the colors of the red, white and blue,” Villines said. “That’s the message of this bridge.”
The existing bridge, built in 1923, was dedicated to Arkansans who died in World War I.
Villines said the paint job wouldn’t make the bridge any costlier to maintain than the state’s other painted steel bridges.
Of the roughly 7,200 bridges in the state highway system, between 2,500 and 2,900 have steel girders or superstructures and are painted as part of a program to preserve or extend the life of the spans, Ort has said.
Villines said Stodola and Hays have made it clear that their cities would likely not be able to contribute funding. The county, however, could cover the increased cost of the double-arch design with money from the road and bridge fund, he said.
The fund has $9 million in reserves and receives $11.5 million annually from a property tax and state gasoline tax, Villines said.
The 0.5 percent state sales tax increase for highways and roads, approved by voters this month, is expected to generate an additional $2 million, he said.
Villines said he planned to present the Highway Department with a commitment to use county funds, then seek approval for the funding from the Quorum Court at its Dec. 18 meeting.
“I’ve been talking to Quorum Court members, and the ones I’ve had time and a chance to talk to about it are open to finding a way to make it happen,” Villines said.
He said he’s open to other ideas, but doesn’t need agreement from Little Rock and North Little Rock before moving forward with the paint scheme.
“It’s time for a decision,” Villines said. “If we don’t make that decision now, right now, today, then we won’t have any bridge, or we’ll have a flat bridge and that’s it.”
Ort said it would be premature to comment on the county’s funding pledge before the department receives it in writing. As for having a consensus on the paint scheme, he said, “We’re interested in the financial commitment.”
“The design consultant needs to get busy designing a bridge from the riverbed up,” Ort said. “Colors don’t factor into that.”
Eight of the Quorum Court’s 15 members are Democrats, as is Villines.
Justice of the Peace Shane Stacks, a Republican who lives in North Little Rock, said he supports using money from the road and bridge fund for the project, as long as it doesn’t require a tax increase.
“It’s a very interesting design, and I think it’s something that central Arkansas will be glad to have,” Stacks said of the span.
Justice of the Peace Wilandra Dean, a Democrat who lives in Little Rock, said she would also support the funding plan.
“Little Rock is growing and thriving, and needs to grow and thrive more,” Dean said. “We need to help it as much as possible.”
Front Section, Pages 1 on 11/29/2012