Razorback Road, two projects in Benton County pulled from bid process over money woes

Highway bids pulled over funding concerns

NWA Democrat-Gazette/ANDY SHUPE Workers direct traffic Tuesday through the four-way stop at Maple Street and Razorback Road in Fayetteville. State highway officials have pulled more than 50 state road improvement projects from the bidding process, including two in Benton County and a portion of Razorback Road in Fayetteville.
NWA Democrat-Gazette/ANDY SHUPE Workers direct traffic Tuesday through the four-way stop at Maple Street and Razorback Road in Fayetteville. State highway officials have pulled more than 50 state road improvement projects from the bidding process, including two in Benton County and a portion of Razorback Road in Fayetteville.

FAYETTEVILLE -- State highway officials pulled 56 road improvement projects across the state from the bidding process, including two in Benton County and a portion of the Razorback Road project in Fayetteville.

The projects were scheduled for an April 21 bid opening and were pulled because of continuing uncertainty over whether money will be available from the Federal Highway Trust Fund, according to a news release.

Projects pulled

In addition to the projects in Benton and Washington counties, other projects have been withdrawn from bidding in the 12-county region:

• Boone County: Signal rehabilitation at Main Street and Rush Avenue in Harrison.

• Carroll County: Overlay projects on U.S. 62 between County Road 704 and Arkansas 103 and Arkansas 21 between U.S. 62 and Indian Creek.

• Franklin County: An overlay project on Arkansas 23 between Arkansas 352 and Rock Creek.

• Johnson County: An overlay project on Arkansas 359 from Arkansas 315 south.

• Logan County: An overlay project on Arkansas 22 west of Arkansas 393 to the Yell County line.

• Madison County: An overlay on Arkansas 16 from the Washington County line east.

• Scott County: An overlay project on U.S. 71 from the Polk County line north.

• Sebastian County: An overlay project on Arkansas 96 between Arkansas 10 and Flat Rock Creek.

Source: Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department

The multiyear ongoing project on Razorback Road is widening it to four lanes through the University of Arkansas campus from Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to Maple Street and up the hill to Garland Avenue. The corridor will have sidewalks separated from both sides of the street by up to 10 feet of green space with trees.

Mike Johnson, associate vice chancellor for facilities at the university, said Phase II that covers the Maple Street stretch and includes a signal at Razorback and Maple was pulled. It was estimated to cost $2.7 million.

Moving utilities is under way with completion estimated for April or May, Johnson said. The utility work started right after the last Razorbacks football home game ended, and officials hoped to have most, if not all, of the project completed by summer 2016. The delay is frustrating because officials hoped the project would only affect the area next to Reynolds Razorback Stadium for one football season, Johnson said. If Maple Street remains two lanes it will create a bottleneck along the north side of the stadium.

Eighty percent of the construction was expected to be paid for using federal money funneled through the state Highway Department. A 20 percent local match is being shared by the city and university.

The Benton County projects not going to bid are an overlay project on Arkansas 59 between Sulphur Springs and Spavinaw Creek and an overlay and shoulder improvement project on Arkansas 12 between Springtown and Arkansas 279.

The estimated value of projects withdrawn Tuesday is more than $112 million statewide and includes $50 million authorized by the Arkansas Highway Commission for its 2015 highway overlay program. A total of 61 projects worth $162 million have been withdrawn from bid openings in 2015.

Scott Bennett, director of the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department, said Tuesday the problem is the department only has the authority to obligate federal money for highway projects through May 31. Bennett said the projects being planned today will need to be let for bid next year or the year after.

"After May 31 is when most of our construction is happening, and we don't know if we're going to get reimbursed, we don't know if it's going to be reduced reimbursement, we don't know what's happening after that," Bennett said. "When we let a job we're committing that funding for about a two-year period so we need some kind of reasonable assurance that we are gonna get timely reimbursement back from the feds."

Highway construction projects in Arkansas are initially paid for with state money then the state seeks reimbursement from the Federal Highway Trust Fund for the federal portion of those payments. Without action from Congress, reimbursements from the Federal Highway Trust Fund are expected to be curtailed this summer.

There hasn't been a new federal highway bill since September 2009. In the interim, highway money has been reauthorized by a series of short-term extensions officials say makes it hard to plan multiyear projects. Some $65 billion has been transferred from federal general revenue to highways in that time to make up for shortfalls.

The primary sources for highway construction money are federal gasoline and diesel taxes. The federal rates of 18.4 cents a gallon on gasoline and 24.4 cents on diesel haven't risen since 1993 and cars are getting better mileage today. The Highway Trust Fund is expected to go broke later this year unless Congress acts again.

The Highway Department has pretty much ended its overlay program for the year, Bennett said.

"Now that we have cancelled our overlay program for this year, there are few areas in the state that are not affected by projects withdrawn from the April bid letting," Bennett said. "If you stop and think about the economic impact this has -- not only on construction jobs, but the lost commerce that results in each local area because construction isn't taking place -- then you begin to understand the trickle-down effect and the urgency of solving this national problem."

Since December, the department has evaluated federally funded projects prior to each bid letting to ensure there was enough state money available to fulfill the contractual commitments during anticipated reductions or delays in federal reimbursements, Bennett said.

"The reality is that over $160 million has not found its way into our state's economy this year," Bennett said in the release. "Meanwhile, our state's highway infrastructure has suffered severe damage from a harsh winter weather season. The lack of an overlay program is going to make repairing the damage that has occurred even more challenging."

According to the release, $490 million in federal highway money, $32 million in federal transit money, an estimated 14,000 jobs and 220 projects are at risk in Arkansas if Congress doesn't come up with a stable source of money to pay for highway infrastructure projects.

Arkansas isn't alone in dealing with the uncertainty. It's one of four states -- the others are Georgia, Tennessee and Wyoming -- that have canceled or delayed $780 million in transportation improvement projects, according to the American Road and Transportation Builders Association.

"This is one of the most easily avoidable crises because Congress has known the May deadline was coming for about eight months," Pete Ruane, the association's president said."Yet, here we are again flirting with another economic meltdown in the peak of the construction season."

U.S. Sen. John Boozman, R-Ark., acknowledged the frustration state highway officials face and the prudence they must use ahead of the May 31 deadline. But he said Congress is certain to reach an agreement on the trust fund ahead of deadline, likening its members to college students who often work on term papers only just before they are due.

"It's going to happen," he said. "We seem to brush up against these deadlines. It's not helpful."

Information for this article was contributed by Noel Oman of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

A Section on 03/25/2015

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