State highway board discusses priorities for next decade

Work continues on U.S. Highway 412 at the St. Francis River on the border of Missouri and Arkansas. The Arkansas State Highway board will receive $4.3 billion in federal funds for continued work.

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LITTLE ROCK (AP) -- State highway commissioners are trying to figure out what the state's road priorities should be for the next decade.

The Highway Commission on Tuesday began weighing whether to focus on addressing expanding traffic volumes in growing urban areas or improving infrastructure in economically depressed regions.

Commission Chairman J.W. "Buddy" Benafield acknowledged it could be some time before the commission devises a clear 10-year plan.

What is clear at this early stage is that Arkansas faces $15.1 billion in highway needs over the next decade, but is in line to receive only $4.3 billion in federal funding for congressionally designated projects--the expansion of U.S. 412 across northern Arkansas, the conversion of U.S. 71 into Interstate 49 along the western border, an Interstate 555 connector to Jonesboro and the future Interstate 69 in the southeastern part of the state.

Now that large, federally mandated improvement projects on Interstates 30 and 40 are done or in progress, the commission has discretion over $270 million of $432 million in construction funds each year through 2005.