Transportation group scouts major projects
Posted on Tuesday, September 16, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/News/237521/
SPRINGDALE — Fayetteville Mayor Dan Coody wasted little time Monday suggesting that he hopes the new Northwest Arkansas Regional Mobility Authority quickly determines which projects will be the agency’s top priorities.
“When will we get to talk about the particulars ?” Coody said during the first meeting of the organization that will handle regional transportation projects.
Jerry Hunton, the Washington County judge chosen as the authority’s first chairman, assured him it wouldn’t take long.
“Surely, the beginning of next year, we’ll talk about options,” Hunton said. “This board is going to have to come together before we go to voters.”
Monday’s initial gathering was thin on specifics about what’s next but heavy on ceremony to kick-start its activities. Authority board members — county judges in Benton and Washington counties and representatives of 11 first-class cities in the counties — agreed to focus on regionally significant projects.
Under Act 389 of 2007, contiguous counties and their firstclass cities may form a regional mobility authority, and the two Northwest Arkansas counties formed the state’s first.
Deciding what projects will be the top priorities could be difficult.
After the meeting, Coody said that he’s concerned about the location of a so-called “western beltway” that would take traffic around Fayetteville. He’s worried about the sprawl it might cause and said that he doesn’t want to build “another Interstate 540 near Farmington that would hurt the economy of Fayetteville.”
“But the Springdale (U. S. 412 ) bypass is going to be the top pri- ority,” Coody said.
Centerton Mayor Bobbie Griffith said she likes the idea of a western beltway even if Coody worries about it.
“I’d like to see that,” Griffith said.
Springdale Mayor Jerre Van Hoose agreed with Coody’s point about the U. S. 412 bypass through north Springdale being the top priority, but Bentonville Mayor Bob McCaslin said a U. S. 71 bypass of Bella Vista should get the mobility authority’s top attention.
“That comes before Springdale’s bypass and the western beltway,” he said.
Any of those projects could be funded with voter-approved sales and use taxes or with tolls on roads. Both are allowed by state law, and John McLarty, a transportation planner with the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission, predicted the group will look to a package of projects to send to voters at some point. Under state law, money raised in one county must be spent in that county.
“One possibility is grouping projects,” McLarty said. “Maybe you’d list several projects for voters.”
Hunton described the mobility authority as a “funding alternative for big-ticket regional projects” like roads and bridges, but it also could be used for less expensive projects such as bike paths, parking facilities and public transportation, such as bus routes.
Hunton said he believes the two counties and cities will be able to work together to find the best projects.
“We probably haven’t been the Brady Bunch, but we can get along,” he said.
McLarty said $ 1. 9 billion in needs were identified in a 2030 long-range transportation plan approved in 2006. Available revenue for those projects is expected to be around $ 411 million, he said.
“The RMA board will decide which of those projects float to the top,” McLarty said.