The Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department wants to see more partnerships in which local governments agree to help pay for the costs of state highway projects that have strong interest in their areas, but not all local governments have been able or willing to jump on board.
State highway officials say such partnerships, the product of a 2005 policy, can bring projects to the front of the line and thus get completed faster than originally scheduled. It also helps the agency make its state and federal road construction dollars go further if local entities shoulder some of the burden.
“You’re going to continue to hear you can’t rely on Washington to fund highway projects,” said Scott Bennett, the agency’s director. “This is going to become more and more prevalent, these types of partnerships.”
Since 1996, the agency has either completed or scheduled work under such partnerships on 48 projects worth $599 million in which local entities have contributed $188 million.
The Arkansas Highway Commission didn’t actually adopt a formal policy until January 2005 and stated the grounds for which “local partnering will ‘enhance’ acceleration of a project.” Under the guidelines, the projects must be:
Eligible for state and federal funding
On the state highway system
Warranted using standards the department has established for capacity, safety or system preservation
Sponsored by a city, county or state agency or third-party entity through a city, county or other state agency
Approved for funding by a city council, quorum court or other state agency
The policy also says other factors may be considered.One is whether the project is needed. Another factor is whether the project is on the primary highway network, which is about half of the state system that carries 90 percent of the traffic.
State highway officials acknowledge that such partnerships have been limited primarily to Northwest Arkansas, where growth andcongestion has driven demand for road work.
Bentonville, Rogers, Fayetteville and Springdale, all Northwest Arkansas communities, are the top four participants in the partnerships, according to the department. Collectively, they have completed or scheduled more than $100 million in projects worth $1 million or more under the partnership policy.
By contrast, Little Rock, the state’s capital and its most populous city, hasn’t done any partnership projects, according to department records, and has only one project under the partnership project scheduled: A section of Arkansas 10, also called Cantrell Road, between Mississippi Avenue and Perryville Road, is to be widened. The estimated cost of the project is about $9.9 million; the city has promised to contribute $991,000, or 10percent.
The project qualifies as a safety improvement project under federal guidelines. The Highway Department can use its safety money to pay for 90 percent of a qualified project. Typically, it matches that federal money with state money.
Fort Smith has only participated in two projects, but in one of them, it contributed nearly $7 million, or half of the cost of widening Arkansas 45 from Interstate 540 to Arkansas 255.
“From a traffic-volume standpoint, from a safety standpoint, it has really been a beneficial project for Fort Smith,” Mayor Sandy Sanders said last month. “It was a substantial project. The last cone is just about to be removed.”
Sanders said he expects the city to participate in more partnerships.
However, it helps if cities are not only willing, but also have a source of revenue to commit to partnership projects, said Ray Gosack, the Fort Smith city manager.
“In Fort Smith, we’re fortunate to have a 1 percent local sales tax that’s been in place for coming up 30 years now,” he said. “It’s dedicated to street and drainage work so that gives us a steady source of revenue to partner with the Highway Commission.”
It also helps that the area is growing, Gosack said.
“We’re feeling pressure from our residents to address congestion problems and safety problems on streets, whether they are state highways or city streets,” he said. “I think the growth is occurring in the areas where you’re seeing the partnerships activity is probably why you’re seeing the interest in the partnership activity.”
Searcy is another example, according to Bennett. That city enacted a local sales tax to come up with the moneyfor a partnership project, he said.
On the other hand, Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola said his city doesn’t see any advantage to participating beyond a limited scale because it hasn’t had a ready source of revenue to devote to the partnerships.
In September 2011, voters approved increasing the city’s sales tax rate, going from 0.5 percent to 1.5 percent. Earlier this fall, city voters approved extending a capital-improvements property-tax millage for 15 years, which would provide the city an additional $105 million for roads, drainage systems, traffic signals and bicycle trail improvements.
That money is going to long-overdue street resurfacing projects around the city, Stodola said. The projects the department has in mind are limited to existing state highways that are scheduled for improvements and are the responsibility of the department, he said.
“The needs were a much higher priority than accelerating a plan the highway department is obligated to do already,” Stodola said.
And while the city might like to see some major projects accelerated, such as the Interstate 430/Cantrell Road interchange, it just isn’t in a position to afford a partnership, given the city’s other street needs, the mayor said.
“Fundamentally, we didn’t have any money for capital improvements,” Stodola said. “The money [we do have] has principally been dictated for maintenance of streets. They are talking about major highway improvements. It’s a challenge.”
Even with the recent sales tax increase, the city sales tax remains a half percent lower than many Northwest Arkansas cities, which allows them to take better advantage of the partnerships with the Highway Department, Stodola said.
The city has shared financial responsibilities in other projects with the Highway Department, but they don’t fit the partnership model. The city contributed about $1 million, for instance, toward work on city streets as part of the Interstate 430/Interstate 630 interchange improvement project now under way.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7 on 11/05/2012