$55M in projects for roads pulled

Again, lack of U.S. aid cited

Gov. Asa Hutchinson is shown speaking to reporters following his speech on Tuesday, June, 23, 2015 at Little Rock Rotary Club 99's weekly meeting at the Clinton Presidential Center. Gov. Asa Hutchinson recently said that while the state needs to take care of its own highway funding shortfall, it cannot do it without the federal government transportation funding.
Gov. Asa Hutchinson is shown speaking to reporters following his speech on Tuesday, June, 23, 2015 at Little Rock Rotary Club 99's weekly meeting at the Clinton Presidential Center. Gov. Asa Hutchinson recently said that while the state needs to take care of its own highway funding shortfall, it cannot do it without the federal government transportation funding.

State highway officials said Wednesday that they removed another $55 million in road and bridge construction projects from a bid letting because of uncertainties that persist over the future of federal transportation funding.

The five projects pulled from next month's bid letting, which include a new overpass on a major south Little Rock artery and putting down the base and surface of a new interchange for a planned Conway bypass, takes the total value of projects the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department has pulled from its lettings to $335 million this season.

The two-month extension of legislation authorizing the federal Highway Trust Fund to continue supporting highway and transit projects expires July 31. Finding a long-term fix has been elusive, but a Senate panel took a step last week in passing a six-year bill that authorizes, among other things, a 3 percent increase per year in funding for highway projects. But a way to pay for it hasn't been found.

The announcement of the dropped state projects came on the same day that the Governor's Working Group on Highway Funding, which is to develop new sources of state money for road and bridge construction, held its first meeting.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson created the working group to short-circuit a fight in the legislative session earlier this year over a bill that would have shifted some money the state receives from the sale of new cars and trucks and some road-user items gradually from the state general budget to the Highway and Transportation Department.

The shift would have applied only to a portion of money above the amount that came in the previous year and thus, proponents say, would not only have preserved the base general revenue being collected but also allowed general-revenue growth to be available to other agencies and providers.

State general revenue has risen more steeply than highway revenue, which depends primarily on fuel taxes, and those have been flat while construction costs continue to rise.

Even though the bill won a committee recommendation, it still faced strong opposition from social service organizations and higher education representatives, whose budgets rely on state general revenue.

The Hutchinson administration also opposed the bill because of budgetary concerns and, in exchange for the bill's withdrawal, created the working group. It has until December to develop recommendations.

The governor said that while the state needs to take care of its own highway funding shortfall, it cannot do it without the federal government continuing to play an important role in transportation funding.

"I'm very concerned about it," he said about the lack of a federal highway bill. "I have followed it. Any time we're slowing down our highway construction in Arkansas it's problematic for our growth, our recruitment of industry and just simply our movement of ... goods and people.

"Much of this falls at the feet of our federal government, that they have not come together in a federal highway bill. I know our members of Congress are working hard on that, but that's the first thing that needs to be done. We're part of the puzzle in terms of our own state funding, but so much of our highway needs must come from the federal government, and that's not going to change."

The Highway and Transportation Department has now withdrawn 75 projects from its bidding schedule since January.

The overpass project would have replaced a bridge carrying South Arch Street traffic over some Union Pacific Railroad tracks between Roosevelt Road and Interstate 30 in Little Rock. The bridge remains safe but is reaching the end of its useful life, an agency spokesman said.

Meanwhile, Conway Mayor Tab Townsell said he wasn't surprised that the Interstate 40 interchange project at Arkansas 365 was withdrawn, given the uncertainty over federal transportation funding.

"I certainly understand," he said. "It's what everybody has warned us about. Congress needs to get a transportation bill."

Withdrawing the project also had a cascade effect. Townsell said his city was ready to do its own base and surfacing project on its portion of the first phase of what would be a bypass around the southern part of the city.

"We were ready to go, but there's no sense in doing it if the state isn't going to do their part," he said.

Other projects withdrawn included two on U.S. 167 in Union County, a new bridge in Garland County and the application of rumble strips on various locations in four of the state's 10 highway districts.

The department said it kept one project on the July letting list -- a project to improve the intersection at Arkansas 351 and Aggie Road in Jonesboro after the city agreed to provide "upfront funding to ensure payments will be made for work performed by the contractor in the event of reduced or delayed federal reimbursements."

The estimated construction value of the project is between $1 million and $2 million, according to the department.

"Our hats are off to the city of Jonesboro for stepping up with a solution to a problem," Scott Bennett, the agency director, said in a statement.

The agency also said it reinstated one project that would apply a high friction surface treatment to various interstate off-ramps around the state.

The application uses rocks that are both polish- and wear-resistant and develops channels to prevent water buildup on wet surfaces. Maintaining the appropriate amount of pavement friction, the department said, is critical in locations where drivers may brake excessively, such as when going around curves or approaching an intersection.

"This is a relatively small project, but it will have a big impact on safety," Bennett said.

The department withdrew the five projects as part of a continuing evaluation of scheduled federally funded projects. Projects are paid for with state money and the department then seeks reimbursement from the federal government. But reimbursements from the Federal Highway Trust Fund are set to be pared back late next month if Congress doesn't pass a new bill.

The move preserves the department's ability to fund ongoing projects. But the loss of new work is hurting contractors.

Guy Washburn, executive director of the Arkansas Asphalt Association and a working group member, said that in recent years, the department has made available projects for bid that collectively represent on average about 2.8 million tons of asphalt.

With the year half over, the department would have made projects available that would use about 1.4 million tons of asphalt. Instead, through the first six months of 2016, the projects made available would use about half that, he said.

"It's bad," said Scott McGeorge, who runs a family of contracting companies and is a member of the working group. "This is the prime season to work. It's dry weather. You can get out there and get with it. You can't start projects typically in bad weather in the fall and in the winter. This is the prime season to get things done."

His companies have avoided layoffs, McGeorge said, but they aren't hiring and have "rejuggled people terribly, re-assigned them."

Hutchinson told the 20-member working group that it has a "lot of hard work to do.

"My expectations are for the state of Arkansas to be creative in [coming up with] additional revenue streams for developing our highway infrastructure," he said.

But the governor also said the group must "balance everyone's desires .... with political reality" and come with something that "we can do in this day and time."

Metro on 06/25/2015

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