The Arkansas Department of Transportation is scheduled this week to hold the first two of a dozen meetings around the state to discuss how it will spend proceeds from a 0.5% statewide sales tax if it is made permanent by voters this November.
One of the meetings will be held at 5:30 p.m. on Jan. 30 at Trinity Baptist Church, 3115 Trinity Blvd. in Texarkana, Arkansas.
The proposal would extend a 0.5% sales tax that voters approved in 2012 to help pay for the department's $1.8 billion Connecting Arkansas Program, which focused on regionally significant projects around the state. It is scheduled to expire in 2023. The extension would kick in after that if voters approve it.
The proposed extension, part of Gov. Asa Hutchinson's initiative to provide long-term funding for highway construction and maintenance, would raise about $205 million annually and would be combined with the department's regular construction program, which relies on revenue largely from state fuel taxes and registration fees and its share of federal fuel taxes.
That would allow the department over 10 years to spend $3 billion on pavement preservation, $1.1 billion on bridge replacement and preservation, $1 billion on interstate maintenance and $500 million on safety improvements.
That would leave about $3 billion over 20 years to spend on a new Connecting Arkansas Program and focus on capital projects.
Another $500 million would be set aside over that span for unanticipated congestion-relief projects, acquiring rights of way and relocating utilities.
The first meeting was held Tuesday at the University of Arkansas at Monticello, with the next meeting scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Thursday at the Academies of West Memphis Performing Arts Center at 501 W. Broadway in West Memphis.
Other meetings in Arkansas, which also begin at 5:30 p.m., are scheduled for:
- Jan. 28 at the Harrison High School Performing Arts Center, 925 Goblin Drive in Harrison.
- Feb. 11 at the University of Arkansas-Rich Mountain Ouachita Center, 1100 College Drive in Mena.
- Feb. 13 at the Blue Lion, 101 N. Second St. in Fort Smith.
- Feb. 20 at Crossgate Church, 3100 E. Grand Ave. in Hot Springs.
- March 9 at the Jess Odom Community Center, 1100 Edgewood Drive in Maumelle.
- March 10 at the Jones Center, 922 E. Emma Ave. in Springdale.