Crittenden among counties receiving funding for road work
Local highway improvement projects will be funded 100 percent by Amendment 91 taxes following legal challenge to ARDOT
By THE TIMES NEWS STAFF
news@theeveningtimes.com
LITTLE ROCK — In 2023 and 2024, six scheduled highway improvement projects across Arkansas will now be funded 100 percent by intended Amendment 91 taxes thanks to a legal challenge against the Arkansas Department of Transportation. Previously, no local funds raised through Amendment 91 had been allocated to these projects in Crittenden, Benton, Washington, Garland, Pulaski and other counties. Instead, the $139-million for these projects had been committed to the I-30 Crossing project in Little Rock until lead plaintiff attorneys Joe Denton and Justin Zachary filed suit on behalf of a small group of taxpayers. They claimed that it was not permissible to use those dollars to fund the Little Rock project under the wording of the amendment and the Arkansas Supreme Court agreed.
“Our challenge was about making sure those funds generated by Amendment 91 went to where Arkansas taxpayers intended when they approved the amendment in 2012,” said attorney Joe Denton of Denton & Zachary. “In this case, that means funding highway improvements in rural parts of the state where they’re sorely needed rather than consolidating the funds paid by citizens from across the state for a few large-scale projects in Little Rock that were clearly not permissible under the wording of the approved amendment.”
Amendment 91 funds approved by Arkansas voters will now fully fund 2023 I-40 improvements in Crittenden County and multiple Hwy. 112 improvements in Benton and Washington Counties as well as Garland County Hwy. 270, Pulaski County Hwy. 10 and Hwy. 412 corridor improvements across multiple counties in 2024. Those are in addition to nine other 2021 and 2022 local highway improvement projects now funded through Amendment 91 across Arkansas instead of seeing those tax dollars concentrated completely on the ineligible I-30 Crossing project and an I-630 project in Little Rock.
“In addition to the satisfaction of seeing this money go to the projects that Arkansas voters intended it to fund, this challenge has been important because it affirmed the rights of every citizen to stand up and make their voice heard when they recognize a problem, even when that problem has to do with a state agency’s actions,” said Denton & Zachary attorney Justin Zachary.
Once approved by voters in 2012, Amendment 91 instituted a 0.5 percent sales tax over 10 years that would help pay for the $1.8-billion Connecting Arkansas Program. The program was aimed at improving over 200 miles of state highways, but was limited to projects no wider than four lanes. The I-30 Crossing and I-630 projects in Little Rock involved sixlane roads which would be widened to 10 lanes in the case of I-30 and eight lanes in the case of I-630.
