Building plan lifts hope for projects

Northwest Arkansas has plenty of highway and transit projects planned and local officials are cautiously optimistic about getting a piece of the action if a federal infrastructure proposal comes to fruition.

The American Society of Civil Engineers recently gave the nation's overall infrastructure a C-minus and said an additional $2.6 trillion is needed over the next decade to get things up to date. More than a third of the nation's bridges need repair, and one in every five highways is in poor condition, according to the report card.

President Joe Biden on Wednesday began laying out a roughly $2.3 trillion, eight-year infrastructure and jobs spending package that would mostly be paid for by increasing the corporate tax rate.

Republicans are arguing that the package is too broad and should be limited to transportation, broadband internet and other basics, and shouldn't include sustainable energy or social justice initiatives. They've also balked at raising taxes.

Tim Conklin, assistant director at the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission, said the president's infrastructure proposal is timely.

"Last week we adopted our 2045 transportation plan with billions of dollars of identified needs, and I think cities, counties, the state, the region welcome any additional funding to help those projects," Conklin said. "What's important also, we're looking forward to having an understanding of what federal funding is available for transit and highways."

The 2045 Metropolitan Transportation Plan anticipates the region receiving about $2 billion in state and federal money, adjusted for inflation, for transportation projects over the next 25 years, according to Regional Planning. About $1.5 billion is expected to go to roads, and the remainder to transit, bike and pedestrian projects.

"We've got a lot of needs out there and whatever they make available, I don't think there's any doubt that we could find a good investment in transportation to be made with that money," said Jeff Hawkins, executive director at Regional Planning.

The president's proposal would spend $621 billion on roads, bridges, public transit, rail, ports, waterways, airports and electric vehicles.

The proposal calls for allocating $115 billion to modernize 20,000 miles of highways, roads and main streets, and $20 billion to improve road safety. It would fix the "most economically significant large bridges" and repair the worst 10,000 smaller bridges.

Planners hope the plan will be a stimulus on top of federal money that the region already gets.

Hawkins said it appears that two things are going on where federal transportation money is concerned. The federal Department of Transportation's 2021 budget request was $89 billion, Hawkins said. The president's proposed infrastructure bill is looking at an additional $500 billion to $600 billion.

WAITING FOR CLARITY

"The transportation authorization runs through Sept. 30, and presumably there's a committee trying to work out new authorization for a new four- or five-year bill," Hawkins said. "Then you've got this other initiative underway for the infrastructure bill that was just announced. The obvious question is how does that relate to the new authorization for transportation? We're taking it to mean that the infrastructure stimulus is on top of what the new authorization might show."

Hawkins said he's hoping the new proposal will provide clarity and continuity after years of operating under short-term extensions of federal money.

"Since clear back in the middle of Obama's first term, it's not been uncommon for there to be short-term amendments, kick the can down the road. Two months funding. Fifteen days of funding. One year there were 18 temporary extensions," Hawkins said.

"It's hard to program any projects or plan any projects when that's been going on. We've come to live with the short-term extensions, extensions, extensions, but it would be refreshing if they would do an authorization bill and fund it on an annual basis," he said.

Hawkins said the uncertainty has resulted in other government agencies stepping up to pay for needed projects.

"The federal share hasn't been a dependable source. I think, if you look back, you'll see cities and states picked up the slack, particularly here," Hawkins said.

The federal proposal would invest $85 billion to modernize public transit and help agencies expand systems to meet demand. Federal spending on public transit would basically double.

TRANSIT HOPES

Biden also wants to direct $174 billion to electric vehicles -- including building a national network of 500,000 recharging stations, replacing diesel vehicles, electrifying bus fleets, and offering tax incentives and rebates to make electric cars more affordable.

Joel Gardner, executive director at Ozark Regional Transit, said he's waiting to see how any money will be divvied up.

"It's still too early for me to get excited about it, but at least they're thinking about us in public transit, which is good," Gardner said. "One thing that concerns me is it's just a global statement of $85 billion for public transit, and that could mean anything."

Regional Transit and Razorback Transit share about $2.9 million in federal money annually. Regional Transit is starting to implement a 10-year transit development plan for the region, called Connect Northwest Arkansas, that would significantly expand the transit system.

"It is exciting that public transit is being considered in the infrastructure bill, but I'm a realist," Gardner said. "I know right now we've got a lot of roads and bridges that have to be done, and if the federal money is going to go toward that, great, and I hope that we get some federal money for public transit in Northwest Arkansas."

Gardner said he hopes any forthcoming money would be distributed under a formula to transit providers rather than a competitive grant format.

"If it comes to the point I'm having to compete against the bigger cities, then it's a little disheartening," he said.

Gardner said it also may be that he'd still have to come up with a local match of 20%.

"Generally, any time the federal government comes into play, we've got to have the local match ready to rock and roll," Gardner said. "That's always going to be the challenge until we can do something locally that has us a dedicated funding stream."

AIRPORTS, WATERWAYS

About $25 billion in the infrastructure plan would go to airports and $17 billion to inland waterways, such as the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System, as well as ports and ferries.

Andrew Branch, chief development officer at Northwest Arkansas National Airport, said expansion projects are lined up just waiting for financing. The airport gets $3.5 million to $3.8 million in federal money annually and discretionary grants every few years to supplement specific projects. The airport also got about $8 million in federal stimulus money last year that went largely for maintenance and operations.

"I'd say we're excited by the concept, we want to see what the execution is. We don't know what all is in this bill, so obviously we don't know how it's all going to work," Branch said. "But, the airport's no different from the highways, it's hard to maintain and properly keep an airport updated with the current funding structure."

Branch said there's always part of the runway or taxiway that needs work, there are plans for a new B Concourse, a sky-bridge to connect the terminal and parking garage is almost through design, and plans call for a major renovation of the terminal's second floor over the next few years. A new taxiway has been designed and is ready to be built, but is on hold awaiting money.

The federal proposed package would allocate $111 billion to upgrade the country's drinking water, wastewater and stormwater systems, and support clean water infrastructure in rural areas.

Lane Crider, chief executive officer at the Beaver Water District, said Northwest Arkansas' water and sewer systems have traditionally been built using local money, but any federal money would be welcome.

As an example, he said, Beaver Water District has about $200 million in improvements seen as necessary over the next 20 years to accommodate a projected population increase of 500,000 people.

Crider said a recent study estimates that 75,000 to 90,000 jobs were lost because of water infrastructure projects being put on hold during the pandemic.

"The combined financial impact is somewhere in the $20 [billion] to $30 billion range," Crider said. "So, you could take that right off the top of what's being offered in this bill. It's definitely a much needed opportunity, in our opinion."