A panel of experts created by the 2009 Arkansas General Assembly to study ways of financing upgrades and improvements to the state’s road network met last week at the capitol for its first meeting.
The 19-member Arkansas Blue Ribbon Committee on Highway Finance is to report to the 2011 General Assembly on how to address highway needs, which state highway department officials said total more than $19 billion.
Arkansas’ system of 16,000 miles of state roads is the 12th largest state highway system in the United States.
The committee includes seven legislators and 12 private citizens.
In 2007 lawmakers approved a proposal to seek a statewide vote authorizing the Arkansas Highway Commission to issue up to $575 million of grant anticipation revenue vehicle and tax revenue bonds for highway projects.
The measure did not specify when the election should be held, but if voters approve the debt must be issued no later than Dec. 31, 2013.
Gov. Mike Beebe did not put the highway bond measure on the ballot last November because the state will not have sufficient capacity before 2010 to issue the bonds, said Beebe spokesman Matt DeCample.
The governor has said he intends to bring the road bonds before the voters next year.In 2007 the General Assembly also allocated $56 million of the state’s $1 billion surplus to road-resurfacing projects.
A $1.3 billion road program that would use money from the general fund was proposed in 2005 by the Arkansas Highway Commission and then-Gov. Mike Huckabee. The measure died in the House before coming to a vote.
The last major road-building effort in the state was a five-year, $1 billion program to repair and modernize 372 miles of the 589 miles of Interstate highways in Arkansas. Much of the effort, which was completed in 2005, was financed through Garvees.
