In a wide-ranging update to lawmakers, state Highway and Transportation Department Director Scott Bennett said he is developing a highway plan through 2020 that requires an additional $50 million in state money every year to complete.
The plan will concentrate on system preservation over expansion. It aligns with Gov. Asa Hutchinson's multipronged strategy to boost highway funding by tapping state general revenue funds. The governor announced his plan -- which does not raise taxes but counts on surplus funding -- in January.
From 2016 through 2020, Bennett said, the Highway and Transportation Department plans to spend $3.6 billion in federal and state funds on road projects.
"We're developing this program as if that state money is going to be there so we can take advantage of all that federal aid," Bennett told the House and Senate transportation committees. "We need $50 million to match $200 million in federal aid. So what's really at risk is $250 million a year worth of projects."
Altogether, there's $1.25 billion at stake over the planning period if lawmakers do not approve Hutchinson's proposal, said Danny Straessle, a spokesman for the department.
The funds anticipated under the governor's plan account for about $1 of every $3 that would be available to the department.
About 80 percent of the total amount spent by the department will be focused on preservation, which includes congestion relief.
Bennett said the department plans to spend about $450 million on bridge projects, including fixing "structurally deficient" bridges. Another $250 million would be spent on safety projects, including fences, striping and rumble strips.
The Highway Department director said the remaining 20 percent of the funds would be spent on improving connectivity and on economic development projects and new interchanges.
There will be at least one job in every county in the state, Bennett said.
The director also said the department is reviewing proposals for the Interstate 30 corridor in Little Rock -- including a proposal by Tom Fennell, a principal in the Little Rock firm Fennell Purifoy Architects, to transform the interstate corridor into a tree-lined boulevard -- and will have an update at a public forum in March.
"Director Bennett -- just in case you decide to cancel that I-30 project -- I've got a little project that I would like to have funded," said Sen. Bill Sample, R-Hot Springs, chairman of the Senate Transportation, Technology and Legislative Affairs Committee.
"Mr. Chairman, I would like to ask this question: If we don't do a $600 million project here on I-30, how many of you have a project you would like to see funded?" Bennett replied.
Most committee members raised their hands.
"I was just curious," Bennett said, laughing.
Metro on 02/04/2016