Posted on 08/23/2017 11:12:55 AM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
A toll feasibility study is up in the air for the future Interstate 49 bridge over the Arkansas River with extensions connecting Arkansas 22 to Interstate 40 at Alma.
Following approval last year of $10 million in I-49 project development, the Arkansas Department of Transportation solicited bids for a consultant to conduct an I-49 toll feasibility study. They are currently in a negotiation phase, according to ArDOT District 4 Construction Engineer Jason Hughey.
ArDOT selected HNTB on June 23 to conduct the “I-49 Alternative Delivery Study.” The negotiations are over the scope of work and process has been “fluid,” ArDOT Public Information Officer Danny Straessle noted in an email. The cost of a toll feasibility study could run between $500,000 and $1 million, according to ArDOT Director Scott Bennett.
Bennett told local county judges and mayors last August at a Western Arkansas Planning and Development meeting that a public-private-partnership, or P3, with tolling could move up the construction timeline for the road extension and bridge by several years.
Bennett told WAPDD representatives in that August 2016 meeting that the total annual budget for ArDOT is about $400 million, with 80 percent going to maintain roads and the rest for capital improvements.
“Without the tolling option or the P3, this project wouldn’t start for at least 5-10 years, with construction start time being at the earliest of 10 years,” the WAPDD meeting notes from August 2016 state.
A P3 could have a road open in eight years from Highway 22 to I-40, Bennett estimated, with construction starting as early as three years after a toll study showed the feasibility.
A request to fund more than $27 million in preliminary engineering for the future I-49 bridge over the Arkansas River from Alma to Barling was included in the draft 2016-20 State Transportation Improvement Plan.
State Rep. Mat Pitsch, R-Fort Smith said by phone Friday the nature of P3s is to make money as soon as possible. He also noted the I-49 corridor project was mentioned by Gov. Asa Hutchinson as one of the top two state projects when asked to present those to President Donald Trump.
“I’ve very anxious to get the I-49 project complete because of the economic development that follows,” Pitsch said.
He went on to say that if the I-49 bridge and extensions come back with no interest from the Trump Administration’s pledge for a $1 trillion infrastructure improvements, then “by all means” he is in favor of moving forward with a P3 with tolls.
Pitsch echoed the sentiments of Arkansas Department of Transportation District Engineer Chad Adams.
“The goal and interest is to exhaust every option, because tolling doesn’t sound good to a lot of people,” Adams said by phone Friday. “With any toll road, to make it work, you need traffic and a reasonable toll.”
By federal law, only new roads can be tolled. ArDOT has tolling authority.
A toll feasibility study for I-40 from North Little Rock to West Memphis was conducted in 2014. Straessle said that although it turned out to not be feasible if only one additional third lane was tolled, it would be feasible if all three lanes were tolled.
Adams said ArDOT has looked at the the possibility of tolling some roads several times in the the past, but to date there are still no toll roads in Arkansas.
In Arkansas, more than $1.2 billion has been spent on major improvement to the I-49 corridor since early 1990s. The remaining cost of completing Interstate 49 in Arkansas is estimated to be $3.5 billion, according to the WAPDD minutes from August 2016. Due to the length and the nature of the corridor, environmental and location studies have been completed in segments.
The plan is for I-49 to stretch from New Orleans to Winnipeg, Canada, but western Arkansas is the biggest missing link, Executive Director Gard Wayt told the Times Record in May.
The estimated cost for finishing the local portion of I-49 is $380 million, including $110 million to construct a bridge over the Arkansas River, Wayt added. The federal government has agreed to pay for 80 percent of the cost, but 20 percent must come from the state.
Finding the money for the I-49 corridor project is the the only thing holding ArDOT from moving forward, Straessle noted in a phone call. Late last week, Trump abandoned plans for an Advisory Council on Infrastructure that was being formed to spend as much as $1 trillion upgrading roads, bridges and other public works.
Wait - earlier in this piece, it said that only "NEW" highways/projects could be tolled.... yet I-40 has existed for a very long time - and has been the recipient of a whole lot of taxpayer-funded expansion and improvements over the years. I am no fan of taxpayers paying for something, then charging another tax to use said road, when we are still paying ongoing taxes (fuel/highway taxes on every gallon we buy) to keep up those roads.
Arkansas may be looking to take advantage of the federal tolling pilot program, in which a state can toll a specific interstate highway only for improvements and maintenance to that highway. There are three slots in the program, but the three state currently in the slots — Virginia, North Carolina and Missouri — have not tolled any highways under the program.
Ridiculous. Let Walmart, Tyson and JB Hunt pay for it.
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