An advisory panel for central Arkansas' long-range transportation planning agency on Wednesday grudgingly recommended the full $631.7 million in funding state highway officials have set aside for the Interstate 30 corridor project.
The nonbinding recommendation from the Regional Planning Advisory Council to amend the region's transportation plan to include the full amount now goes to the Metroplan board of directors, which is scheduled to take up the matter next week.
The reluctance to support the full amount came after some council members voiced concerns that the vote would be seen as an endorsement of one or more of the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department's four publicly available alternatives under consideration for improving the 6.7-mile corridor through downtown Little Rock and North Little Rock.
"I have a serious concern that my endorsement of the amendment is a de facto endorsement of the 30 Crossing design," said council member Tom Sutton, an executive from Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport/Adams Field, who opposes the alternatives the department is evaluating.
Two alternatives have six through lanes with two additional lanes in each direction in the vicinity of the Arkansas River bridge to separate local traffic from the through lanes. The additional lanes are called collector-distributor lanes.
The alternatives differ in the location of an interchange to serve downtown Little Rock. One alternative has a new interchange configuration at Cantrell Road, where the interchange is now. The other moves it south and uses East Fourth and Sixth streets and Capitol Avenue to allow traffic to enter and leave downtown.
The other two alternatives have the same interchange options but envision eight through lanes.
The department is taking public comment on the alternatives through June 10. At the same time, the alternatives are being evaluated under an environmental assessment process that is designed to produce a preferred alternative later this year.
While the design of six through lanes with collector/distributor lanes has attracted support from the business community, some project critics reject all four alternatives, saying that widening the corridor would harm downtown Little Rock, which has enjoyed a renaissance in recent years.
The proposal before the council on Wednesday was called Amendment 1 to the region's transportation improvement plan. Metroplan had approved its transportation improvement plan last year, estimating $300 million would be needed for reconstruction and operational improvements in the I-30 corridor.
Since that time, state highway officials have identified additional money they could use on the corridor project, which they call 30 Crossing. They say the full amount -- $631.7 million -- won't be exceeded because that is what they have budgeted for the project. Contractors competing for the project will have to say what work they can do on the project that won't exceed that amount, the officials said.
That concerned council member Sybil Hampton of Little Rock.
"We don't know what the project will even look like," she said.
Adopting the amendment to the plan would make it consistent with the state transportation improvement plan, which the Arkansas Highway Commission is to consider next month.
The state transportation improvement plan lists almost 700 projects, totaling an estimated $4.8 billion, that state highway officials plan to construct over the next five years. It sets aside $631.7 million for the I-30 project.
Under federal law, the regional plan must be consistent with the state plan in order for federal funds to be expended. Metroplan and Highway Department officials said the Highway Commission would have no choice but to approve the state plan without the regional plan if the two plans aren't in accord.
To change the state plan would require a public-involvement process that likely would preclude approval before the new federal fiscal year begins Oct. 1.
That worried some council members.
The region's transportation improvement plan contains $638 million in federal funding for state highway and transit projects, as well as $733 million in state funding under the Connecting Arkansas Program, a $1.2 billion road construction program that is largely financed with a half-percentage-point increase in the statewide sales tax that voters approved in 2012. It is in place for 10 years.
"This is money we are using for central Arkansas," said council member Todd Larson of North Little Rock. "If we don't match [plans], we're vulnerable" to losing that money.
During a public-comment period for the proposed amendment, two-thirds of the 117 comments Metroplan received expressed opposition to the amendment or to the I-30 corridor project itself, said Casey Covington, an agency staff member.
Dan Roda, a council member from Little Rock, tried to persuade the council to adopt a version of the amendment he crafted that would leave in place only the $300 million for the I-30 corridor project. He opposes widening the corridor and could support the "no build" alternative, which is one of the options the department also will have to consider as part of the environmental evaluation process.
"I don't see how we could in good conscience vote to include 30 Crossing," he said.
His version of the amendment failed 7-14. The original amendment, as proposed by council Chairman Charles Cummings, passed 21-4.
Metro on 05/19/2016