DALLAS -- Arkansas highway officials will reinstate 27 of the 87 road projects deferred earlier this year over federal funding concerns thanks to the latest in a long series of short-term patches that will keep the Highway Trust Fund solvent through mid-December.
But it will be only a temporary reprieve unless Congress can agree on a fully funded, multiyear highway bill before the latest quick fix expires, said Scott Bennett, executive director of the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department.
More than 130 road projects valued at $520 million scheduled for next year are at risk without a long-term bill before the end of 2015, Bennett said,
"The likelihood of resuming the task of withdrawing of projects from bid openings beginning in early 2016 is a grim possibility," Bennett said.
Five states including Arkansas this year have delayed transportation projects totaling at least $1.5 billion and maybe as much as $2 billion due to worries about future federal highway funding.
Arkansas does not have the flexibility as some states do to boost its own transportation revenues if federal funding falters, Bennett said.
"Other state departments of transportation can tap into other sources of funds, including a line of credit from their general state revenue to keep projects going, but Arkansas cannot," he said. "We have no way of raising revenue to offset the reduction, delay, or loss of federal dollars that Arkansas depends upon for 70% of its highway construction program."
In Virginia, a draft request for qualifications was released last week to five potential private partners for a $2.1 billion project to add dynamically tolled express lanes on Interstate 66 outside the Washington Beltway. An official RFQ for the project may be approved by the Commonwealth Transportation Board at its Sept. 16 meeting.
The Virginia Public-Private Partnership Advisory Committee ruled in August that financing the project as a P3 is in the public interest. The preferred delivery method and private partner are to be selected by the state in mid-December.
California Gov. Jerry Brown last week proposed a 6 cent per gallon increase in the state's gasoline tax, an 11 cent hike in the diesel tax, and higher registration fees to generate an additional $3.6 billion per year for upgrades to the state's transportation infrastructure.
Congress passed a three-month extension of the Transportation Department's authority to reimburse states for highway and transit projects in late July just hours before breaking for the five-week August recess. The spending authority was extended to Oct. 29, but the $8.1 billion of general revenues transferred into the HTF by the extension measure will keep the fund solvent through mid-December.
Before the recess, the Senate passed and sent to the House a six-year transportation bill with only three years of full funding. The DRIVE Act would provide $274 billion for highways and $74.9 billion for transit through fiscal 2021.
The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee could release a separate bill based on the Senate proposal later this week with a committee vote by mid-September. Chairman Bill Shuster, R-Pa., called the Senate measure "a positive step" but said the House will play a major role in crafting the next highway bill.
"The House also needs to make its voice heard and put forth its own priorities for such a significant piece of legislation," Shuster said after the Senate passed the DRIVE Act. "My goal remains the completion of a long-term bill to improve our nation's roads, bridges, and other infrastructure as soon as possible."
