The Arkansas Highway & Transportation Department has reinstated 27 projects that had been pulled from the 2015 bidding schedule because of concerns over federal transportation funding.
Recent federal legislation transferred $8.1 billion to the Highway Trust Fund through Oct. 29. AHTD Director Scott Bennett said the funding will allow some of the delayed projects to be phased back into bid lettings scheduled for October, December, and possibly February 2016.
Two of the more prominent projects back up for bidding include phase two of the interchange at interstates 30 and 430, which will include adding a lane to 430 from Stagecoach Road to 30 and widening the onramps connecting the interstates, and rehabilitation of the interchange of I-430 and Cantrell Road in west Little Rock.
“This is great news for the state’s economy as we head into the fourth quarter of the calendar year,” Bennett said in a news release. “Other state departments of transportation can tap into other sources of funds, including a line of credit from their general state revenue to keep projects going, but Arkansas cannot. We have no way of raising revenue to offset the reduction, delay or loss of federal dollars that Arkansas depends upon for 70 percent of its highway construction program.”
Gov. Asa Hutchinson told the Arkansas Good Roads Foundation in June that “everything is on the table” for the Highway Funding Working Group he created and charged with finding new ways to fund state highways by Dec. 15.
Here is the full list of reinstated projects:
| County | Route | Project Name |
| Boone | – | Main St./Rush Ave. Signal Rehab. (Harrison) |
| Clay | CR 53 | Piggott-West Drainage Strs. Replacement |
| Cleburne | 25 | Hwy. 25 Spur-Locust Grove (Passing Lanes) |
| Crawford | 162 | Hwy. 162 Improvements (Alma) |
| Crittenden | 147 | Hwy. 131-North |
| Cross | 284 | Branch of Caney Creek Str. & Apprs. |
| Faulkner | 40 | Conway South Interchange-Hwy. 365 (Base & Surf.) |
| Faulkner | 65B & 286 | I-40-Thomas G. Wilson Dr. (Conway) |
| Fulton | 63 | Gut Creek Str. & Apprs. |
| Grant | 291 | Moore’s Slough Tributary Str. & Apprs. |
| Independence | 167 | CR 80 (Antioch Road)-South City Limits Cave City |
| Lee | 131 | Ditch at L.M. 1.85 Str. & Apprs. |
| Little River | 32 & 32Y | Hwy. 32/Hwy. 32Y Signal (Ashdown) |
| Mississippi | 18 | Hwy. 18 Improvements (Manila) |
| Montgomery | CR 34 | Mazarn Creek Str. & Apprs. |
| Phillips | 44 | Bee Bayou Str. & Apprs. |
| Pope | 7 | Dover-North (Passing Lanes) |
| Pope | 7 | Newton Co. Line-South (Passing Lane) (Ph. II) |
| Pulaski | 10 & 430 | I-430/Hwy. 10 Interchange Impvt. (L.R.) |
| Pulaski | 30 & 430 | I-30/I-430 Interchange Impvt. (L.R.) (Ph. II) |
| Searcy | 74 & 377 | Gourd & Granny Creek Strs. & Apprs. |
| Stone | 66 | South Sylamore Creek-East (Passing Lane) |
| Union | 167 | El Dorado-Hwy. 335 |
| Washington | 16 | Middle Fork White River Str. & Apprs. (Fayetteville) |
| Washington | 112 | Razorback Rd.-Garland Ave. (Hwy. 112) (Fayetteville) |
| Yell | Various | Hwy. 7-West |
| Various | Various | Shoulder Rumble Strips/Stripes (Sel. Secs.) (Dists. 1, 5, 6, 10) |
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