The Little Rock Port Authority's board of directors at a meeting on Wednesday approved expenditures clearing the way for new railroad safety equipment as well as a construction contract tied to a radio installation that will eventually make more land available for development at the port.
The board gave approval to those items along with a series of other expenditures.
Per the board's action, the port's Executive Director Bryan Day is authorized to enter into a $411,425 contract with the MidSouth Railroad Service Company for railroad crossing safety improvements at an at-grade railroad crossing on Frazier Pike.
In 2018, a Port Authority worker was killed at the Frazier Pike crossing when the train he was onboard collided with a westbound 18-wheeler.
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported at the time that 62-year-old Donald Melton was working as a "spotter" at the rear of the train with another employee.
They jumped off the train as it approached the 18-wheeler, but the train left the tracks and fell on Melton because of the collision, which reportedly left the 18-wheeler's driver and other personnel uninjured.
According to a copy of the resolution approved on Wednesday, the Arkansas Department of Transportation determined that the railroad crossing warranted safety improvements.
A $351,000 grant from the department has been awarded to the Port Authority to cover costs associated with the project.
Port Authority staff have asked the department "for additional funds to close the gap in the final bid price," the resolution says. "If this request is unsuccessful, funds will come from the Little Rock Port Authority's grant account."
Board members approved a separate resolution authorizing $60,000 in design work with the firm Crafton Tull related to the installation of safety equipment at the Frazier Pike crossing. However, the Port Authority will be reimbursed for the cost as part of the Department of Transportation grant.
Additionally, the board gave the OK for Day to enter into a nearly $2.6 million agreement with a construction firm to build a new facility for an aircraft navigation beacon known as a VHF Omni Directional Radio Range station, or VOR, for which the Federal Aviation Administration has responsibility.
For years, port officials have made efforts to move an existing VOR station that is surrounded by property owned by the port to a new site in North Little Rock and thereby free up some 1,000 acres in the port's southern zone for industrial development.
The Port Authority received three bids from firms seeking to build the facility at the new location, but the lowest bidder withdrew, according to the resolution approved Wednesday.
The second-lowest bid came from the DACO Construction Co., the firm that was ultimately selected.
Day told board members Wednesday that officials were looking at a construction period of nine to 12 months. Once it is completed sometime next spring, the new facility will be turned over to the FAA, he said.
The VOR cone at the port then will be turned off, the 55 acres it sits on handed over to the port and the new one activated, according to Day.
The final amount for the construction contract came in about $1 million over the engineers' estimate, Day acknowledged, but having discussed it internally and with partners at the chamber and the state, "we believe it's time to move forward."
"We have the cash to fund this project," Day added, with about half, or $1.2 million, coming from the FAA as officials continue to look for other funding partners.