LITTLE ROCK (3-13)      

The Arkansas Highway Commission has identified all the road and bridge improvement projects it plans to undertake utilizing stimulus funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), according to Dan Flowers, Director of the Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department (AHTD). 

The Commission met Friday, March 13, to give final approval to the list of 103 projects totaling approximately $421 million.   (See project list)  (See project map)

Congress passed the ARRA last month and President Obama signed it into law on February 17. Through the ARRA, Arkansas has approximately $351.5 million available for statewide road and bridge improvements. $15.7 million of that amount goes directly to the state’s two largest metropolitan statistical areas – a four-county area in central Arkansas , and West Memphis which is considered part of the Memphis metropolitan area. The remaining $335.8 million is to be used at the Commission’s discretion based on criteria contained in the ARRA.

“The Commission was able to leverage the $335.8 million it has available from the ARRA into $421 million in improvements because some of the selected projects already had dedicated funding from other sources, or the projects will require funding from other federal, state, or local sources,” Flowers stated. “By using the money in this way, we are getting the equivalent of an extra full year of federally-funded highway improvement projects.”

Additional information about the ARRA can be found at www.recovery.gov. For more information about its impact on Arkansas, go to www.recovery.arkansas.gov. Information about specific road and bridge construction projects can be found by going to www.ArkansasHighways.com, and clicking on the ARRA logo and link in the middle of the page. 

                                                                                                #####