Progress is slowly being made on a number of road construction projects throughout Northeast Arkansas, and several new ones are slated to begin, Arkansas Highway Commission Chairman Alec Farmer told Talk Business & Politics.
Farmer, along with several other civic leaders including U.S. Rep. Rick Crawford, R-Jonesboro, and ARDOT Director Lorie Tudor, were featured speakers at the Arkansas Good Roads Foundation Northeast Arkansas policy event held Friday (July 21) in Jonesboro. Private industry leaders including Arkansas Trucking Association President Shannon Newton and Riceland Foods Supply Chain VP Evan Bolte also provided insights.
Voters in 2020 passed Issue 1, a constitutional amendment that made a half-cent sales tax for road construction projects permanent. The tax generates about $290 million annually. A little more than $205 million is dedicated to the Arkansas Department of Transportation while the rest is distributed back to cities and counties throughout the state.
“A lot of our challenges were taken care of when the voters of the state supported Issue 1,” Farmer said. “We are very grateful for what they did.”
A lot of the state’s plans for an expanded and improved highway system is directly tied to the Arkansas Primary Highway Network. The network has identified the most crucial highways in the state to improve commerce and residential travel. The state has about 16,000 miles of highways, but 92% of the Natural State’s traffic only uses about half those roads, according to ARDOT.
In Northeast Arkansas, parts of U.S. 412, the I-57 corridor, U.S. 63 and I-55 are among the highways that are in the high priority category within the network.
One project that has been discussed for decades is the four-laning of I-57 from Pocahontas to the Missouri border. The more than 30-mile stretch is the final piece of the highway, that when completed, would provide four-lane highway access from Canada to Mexico and it will go right through the heart of Northeast Arkansas.
Two $50 million bypass projects near Corning have already been approved, Farmer said. One will begin next year, while the other is slated to begin in 2026. The projects are critical steps in finishing the final four-lane of I-57 in Arkansas, he added.
Another regional four-lane highway goal has been the expansion of U.S. 412 from Siloam Springs to the bootheel in southern Missouri. The highway spans the entire northern section of the state. About 173 miles of the thoroughfare are already four-laned.
Farmer said it would cost billions of dollars to finish the other 116 miles along the route and it will take years to complete the work. But smaller projects along the route have been approved, including a $50 million lane expansion from Ash Flat to Norfork.
A Northeast Arkansas native, Farmer said he knows residents in this part of the state want more expanded highway access. Those improvements will come with time, he added.
“We’re going to make it (U.S. 412) as safe and efficient as we can in the meantime,” Farmer added.
