Highway Department Pulls $120 Million In Highway Projects

Uncertain about federal disbursements coming from the Highway Trust Fund, the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department has withdrawn nine construction projects with a construction value of $120 million from its June 9 bid opening.

The department announced the withdrawal in a press release Thursday afternoon. The projects include a planned improvement to the I-30/I-430 interchange in Little Rock and an overlay project on I-30 in Pulaski and Saline counties.

So far this year, the department has withdrawn 70 projects with an estimated construction value of $282 million.

This year, a total of 120 projects with an estimated construction value of $490 million are at risk because Congress has yet to replace or extend MAP-21, the federal highway bill that funds the Highway Trust Fund. MAP-21 expires at the end of May, and the HIghway Trust Fund is almost depleted. The department says that 130 projects with an estimated value of $520 million are at risk for 2016.

In 2014, federal funding made up 56% of the Highway Department’s revenue stream and 70% of its construction budget. Typically, the department would pay $70 million to contractors each month and then quickly be reimbursed about $50 million, AHTD Director Scott Bennett explained during a speech to the Arkansas Trucking Association last week. The uncertainty over those reimbursements has led the department to pull the projects.

MAP-21 nearly expired last year until members of Congress extended it by one year with revenues that will come over the next 10 years. Members of Congress are trying to decide how to fund highways because of declining revenues from the fuel tax as a result of vehicles becoming more fuel-efficient.