Missouri highway officials last week said again that they don't have the money now to finish their part of the Bella Vista bypass.
Arkansas and Missouri have both been trying to get that much-needed road built, but they haven't both had the money to move forward at the same time.
So the new link between the two states will wait a while longer and travelers between the two will continue to bottle up in congested Bella Vista.
Darin Hamelink, area engineer for the Missouri Department of Transportation, explained last week that Missouri has $20 million budgeted in 2020 for construction of the project but will need another $30 million to finish it.
Missouri, like Arkansas, must stretch its highway dollars. And that means new construction isn't happening right now, he said.
"We're basically treading water and taking care of what we've got, our roads and bridges," he told regional planners in Springdale last week.
What a difference a few days -- well, a few years -- make.
There was a time when Missouri had money in hand for its part of the road, the shorter stretch of the needed construction, but Arkansas didn't and it had no obvious source for the funding.
Missouri officials then did what they needed to do, redirecting that state's dollars to other needed projects. It made no real sense to do anything else.
Southwest Missouri's loss became Kansas City's gain as the money was reallocated to meet needs there.
In the intervening years, Missouri's interest in the Bella Vista bypass hasn't necessarily waned, but the money has. Then, in 2014, Missouri voters defeated a proposed amendment that would have provided new highway funding.
The vote impacted highway planning all over Missouri, including in this southwest corner.
Arkansas, meanwhile, actually passed a highway bond issue and a sales tax dedicated to highway projects, among them funding for more stages of the Bella Vista bypass.
Notably, a sizable chunk of the money raised by the sales tax vote was promised to Northwest Arkansas projects -- including the Bella Vista bypass. Otherwise, the bond issue might not have passed.
Expect highway commissioners to follow through on the promises, just don't expect the finished deal any time soon.
And don't confuse this funding with the short-term highway program Gov. Asa Hutchinson just talked the Legislature into funding. Those redirected state surplus and investment dollars are to match federal money, mostly for repair and maintenance.
The Bella Vista bypass promise came a lot earlier and is supposed to be paid for with other revenue.
Eventually, the plan is to have a four-lane divided highway between Arkansas and Missouri, which will be part of an even larger dream road. Interstate 49 is to stretch all the way from New Orleans to Canada someday.
For now, work on the Bella Vista piece comes in fits and starts, a little bit here and a little bit there.
Both states will definitely continue the work, if at different paces.
Missouri has acquired the necessary right of way but still needs to do an environmental impact study, finish design and build the road.
Arkansas' focus is on the initial two lanes of a four-lane road. Part of the two-lane bypass, which goes around Hiwasse, is actually done and open for use. Crews are working now on a six-mile stretch from U.S. 71B to Arkansas 72.
Even short stretches relieve local traffic pressure, when opened. But the long-range plan is to build the bypass to the state line, including a major Bentonville interchange at Interstate 49.
That's when the real relief will come.
Nevertheless, Arkansas won't likely build a road to nowhere, which is what the finished project would be if completed to the state line right now.
The full bypass is still in state plans and may remain in the planning stages until Missouri can afford to make the long-promised link.
Commentary on 05/29/2016