Highway Commissioner Trammel points out the importance of good roads to Arkansas

Dick Trammel, one of the five members of the Arkansas State Highway Commission, was the guest speaker at the Thursday, Sept. 16, 2010, meeting of the Van Buren Rotary Club. His purpose on Thursday was to talk about Arkansas Highways. However, several of the Rotarians in the audience warmly remembered Dick Trammel as the District Governor of Dist. 6110 in 1985-86, and Dick spoke with the authority and enthusiasm of someone who as a Rotarian for 50 years has spent most of his adult life involved in public service in one form or another and at the same time, built a very successful business career along the way.

According to Commissioner Trammel, Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department is the 5th largest state agency with 3,618 employees who are responsible for Arkansas' 16,438 miles of roads and highways. Last year, the Commission received $267 million to maintain all those roads. The 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was projected to provide an additional $351,544,468 for highways and bridges, of which $28 million was set aside for transit capital grants and $10 million for local city and county projects. So far, Arkansas has used the balance to complete 121 major projects covering 273 miles and only six project are not finished at this point. To put some of those costs into perspective, the latest 2009 revision shows the following Estimated Costs per Mile for highway construction:
4 Lane Freeway - urban area w/ no bridges -   $10,350,000/mile
4 Lane Freeway - rural mtns w/ no bridges -     $12,250.000/ mile
Add new interchange to existing Freeway  -     $11,130,000

Currently, fifty-two percent of the money to maintain Arkansas roads comes from the Federal Government. Congress has added an additional $36 million toward additional highway repairs over the last three years. But overall, the current system, which dates from when gasoline was only a dollar a gallon, is outdated and doesn't match the current need to maintain highways and bridges all over the nation.

Arkansas' Blue Ribbon Committee, seeking to find acceptable ways to increase the funding for highway construction and maintenance, also faces the reality that highway construction costs have tripled over the past six years while a fixed $0.21/gal. gas tax for Arkansas highways generates less money as people are motivated to drive more economically and travel less. Even without an estimated $8.7 billion necessary to meet anticipated construction needs, close examination also shows a need for an additional $200 million per year just for maintenance to keep our roads at their current level.

Commissioner Trammel also introduced Joe Shipman, the District 4 Engineer based in Fort Smith, who reviewed the current highway projects in the Van Buren area. The district expects to spend about $13 million on local highway projects this year, and has already spent $72 million in the Van Buren area over the last 10 years. Hwy 71 improvements and I-49 construction projects are expected to cost $424 million.

Commissioner Trammel added with his characteristic smile, "I won't see I-49 in my lifetime, but I'll start it! Someone else can finish it."