SPRINGDALE — Strategic planning for the Northwest Arkansas Regional Mobility Authority began in earnest Friday when engineers hired to help plot the authority’s future met with board members to discuss transportation goals, public awareness and ways to sidestep political squabbles that could derail projects.
Friday’s meeting was the first of four that are expected to conclude in spring 2011 with the authority settling on a core profile and a set of tangible objectives. Representatives with Jacobs Engineering Group, a national firm with an office in Fayetteville, told authority members that creating an identity must come first.
Once the public knows what the authority is and what it does, its members can go to the public and sell proposals for road tolls, sales taxes and vehicle registration fees - cash-generating tools the authority will need if it is to widen highways and build bypasses and beltways in Northwest Arkansas.
“What do you want to be when you grow up?” said Kip Guthrie, an engineer with Jacobs. “We want you to figure out a way to have a vi-brant [mobility authority] to serve the community.”
Big projects like the Bella Vista bypass, the Springdale northern bypass and a beltway west of Interstate 540 were discussed. The board also talked about improvements to I-540, lighting along the proposed Razorback Greenway bike trail between Bella Vista and Springdale, and funding for Ozark Regional Transit.
But agreeing on what the authority plans to support might not be the easiest thing to do, several board members said.
The authority, which covers Benton and Washington counties, must deal with competing interests, board members said. A road program in Bentonville or Rogers might not be too popular with voters in south Fayetteville. A project beneficial to Springdale might not sit well with elected officials in Siloam Springs, Gentry and Prairie Grove.
A divided board will never be able to generate the public support needed to raise the millions of dollars the authority needs if it is to succeed, both board members and the engineers said. The authoritycannot levy taxes on its own and must ask the quorum courts in the two counties to put revenue proposals on the ballot.
Other key questions concern the authority’s role in regional infrastructure, said Guthrie and his Jacobs Engineering colleagues, Katharine Nees and Pamela Bailey-Campbell. Does the authority simply want to serve as a catalyst for programs, or does it want to own, operate and maintain roads?
Despite potential political concerns, board members agreed that the region has great assets - a strong business community, strong ties to the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department and a good relationship with elected officials in Washington D.C.
Perry Webb, president and CEO of the Springdale Chamber of Commerce, said federal ties to Northwest Arkansas could get even stronger if Rep. John Boozman, a Rogers Republican, defeats U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln, a Democrat, in their race for U.S. Senate,
Most of Friday’s discussions ended with talk of money.
“We need to figure out what we want to do and then figure out how to pay for it,” Gentry Mayor Wes Hogue said.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 13 on 10/30/2010