Committee approves transportation improvements
Posted on Wednesday, July 23, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/bcdr/News/64055/
BENTON COUNTY — The U. S. Senate Appropriations Committee has approved the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2009, U. S. Sens. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., and Mark Pryor, D-Ark., announced Monday.
The act contains more than $ 13 million in transportation and economic priorities for Arkansas, including some $ 2 million for Interstate 540 interchange improvements in Washington and Benton counties.
Funds will be used to make interim improvements at 17 I-540 interchanges in those two counties, said Katie Laning, Sen. Lincoln’s press secretary.
“ The I-540 interim improvements include adding lanes at on and off ramps, as well as adding capacity to cross streets to allow for the traffic coming from and going to the interstate. In 2006, the Arkansas state Highway and Transportation Department compiled a report identifying the interim and long-term needs of I-540. This funding is a start toward some of these improvements. AHTD will determine how the funding will be used, ” Laning said.
The following is a list of other priorities for Arkansas also contained in the transportation-HUD appropriations bill:
• Some $ 5 million for Interstate 430 / 630 (Little Rock ), interchange modification: Planned improvements will modernize a 25- to 30-yearold cloverleaf interchange between two major urban interstates to eliminate severe congestion during peak travel periods.
• Some $ 3 million for Interstate 69 / Great River Bridge, Highway 65-MS Highway 1 (south Arkansas ): Funds will be used to continue engineering, design and rightof-way acquisition for the I-69 / Great River Bridge. The bridge will be a part of a new four-lane, controlled-access highway.
• Some $ 2 million for I-555 Access Road, Poinsett County: This funding will create an access road along the highway from Marked Tree to Payneway that will provide an artery for agriculture and local transportation to the St. Francis River floodway.
• $ 1 million for Garrison Avenue streetscaping in Fort Smith: Garrison Avenue is the primary entrance into Fort Smith, and this streetscaping will complete the entryway extending from the Garrison Avenue bridge to 13 th Street. The city has already constructed or has under design streetscaping along Garrison Avenue between Second and Eighth streets.
• Some $ 400, 000 for Winrock International’s Regional Entrepreneur Assistance Program: These funds will help Winrock International provide technical assistance to entrepreneurs with new innovations in Arkansas.
Winrock is a 23-year-old nonprofit organization that works with people in the United States and throughout the world to empower the disadvantaged, increase economic opportunity and sustain natural resources, the Winrock International Web site states.
The spending bill funds the Department of Transportation and the Department of Housing and Urban Development for a year.
The full Senate is expected to vote on the legislation later this year.