Federal Grants Help Cities Address Road, Water Needs

Visitors can often tell the quality of a community and its commitment to infrastructure projects merely by looking at the roads.

Is the roadway striping clear and new? Are there good traffic signals that work in correspondence with each other? Are there cameras atop poles at busy intersections that allow city officials to monitor traffic flow?

These are all indications of a city’s progress, said Jerry Holder, senior vice president and enterprise solutions director at Garver, an engineering, planning and environmental services firm based in North Little Rock.

Jerry Holder

“I can tell how proud a community is just by driving through it,” he said.

With the release of more federal grant money, increased local sales-tax revenues and matching grant funds, cities are seeing more opportunities for improvement. The investment is cyclical, too, Holder added. A city can become more attractive by improving its look, drawing more people in and collecting more sales taxes.

“It takes money to make money,” Holder said.

Overall, $20.5 billion in federal funds have been disbursed to the country through the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity grant program, and Arkansas cities have benefited. The funds are earmarked to overhaul the country’s public transportation systems to allow residents better access to work, school, health care and appointments.

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg called the program the largest ever federal investment in a press release announcing the funding.

Two Arkansas cities recently received nearly $49 million in RAISE discretionary grants to make them more attractive.

In Bryant, $25 million of RAISE funds will go toward reconstructing Arkansas Highway 5. The project will restructure 3.6 miles of Old Stagecoach Road, create a shared-use path, improve storm drainage, add continuous sidewalks and build necessary utility work.

The project’s plan said the new sidewalks and shared-use paths will give commuters “active transportation
options” that promote health and reduce the chances for accident rates on Bryant’s roadways.

The work is also intended to alleviate traffic from nearby Interstate 30 during peak congestion times.

The walkway will also connect with the Bryant Parkway, a bicycle and pedestrian corridor that connects north and south Bryant and will eventually attach to the Southwest Trail.

Russellville will spend $23.8 million to create 13 miles of new active-transportation infrastructure consisting of 10-foot-wide multi-use trails and side paths.

The system will connect schools, parks, medical facilities and downtown shopping. Plans also call for a bicycle and pedestrian bridge over Interstate 40.

Both RAISE projects prioritize safety, quality of life, mobility, community connectivity and economic competitiveness.

In 2022, Conway received $25 million in RAISE funds to build a greenway trail project through the city. Plans call for the city’s greenway trail to someday connect with existing trails and new bicycle and pedestrian paths throughout cities in central Arkansas.

In addition to the federal RAISE funding, other grants are available to communities.

Little Rock will receive a $2 million grant to study building a parking deck with a public park on top over Interstate 30. Several cities have also received funding to improve water systems, wastewater treatment plants and airports.

Since 2022, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law has funded $241 million in water infrastructure projects in the state.

In all, $2.7 billion in Infrastructure Law money has funded 141 projects in the state. Of that, $2.3 billion was invested in bridges, roads, public transit and parks.

“Infrastructure projects didn’t slow down during the COVID-19 pandemic,” Holder said. “There were some essential projects. Getting people to work with better transportation was one. It’s like that saying in the movie Field of Dreams: ‘If you build it, they will come.’ Alternative means for transportation is big. Bicycles, trails, freight, ports — there’s a lot of work going on.”

Matt Crafton, president and CEO of Crafton Tull, an architecture and engineering firm based in Rogers, said his company is also seeing infrastructure projects on the rise.

Matt Crafton

With satellite offices in Little Rock, Jonesboro, Conway, Fort Smith, Fayetteville, Hot Springs, Russellville and Oklahoma City, the firm has a long reach. Many of the towns and cities it serves are dealing with infrastructure problems.

“Towns are dealing with old sewers and streets, and they need to rebuild them,” he said. “We’re seeing a lot of quality-of-life improvements.”

Several cities have focused on building projects to attract youngsters. Conway has built softball and baseball fields with federal grant money.

“Youth sports are a mechanism for creating a destination spot,” Brad Lacy, president of the Conway Area Chamber of Commerce, said in a news release about the parks’ construction.

The city built five softball parks and nine baseball fields.

Jonesboro is creating a $50 million sports complex on Race Street in the south-central portion of the city. Work should begin on that project later this summer. It is expected to generate about $22 million a year in hotel taxes and sales-and-use taxes once completed.

The complex will feature a 22,000-square-foot outdoor aquatic pool, as well as basketball, volleyball and pickleball courts.

Searcy leaders are also studying the benefits of a sports park and community center.

“It’s no secret that youth sports is a hot business,” Crafton said. “We’ve seen the transfer to that in the last 20 years. Cities have held bond issues that were paid back with sales taxes with sunset clauses. They use the revenues they earn [through additional taxes] from the infrastructure they made. A lot of people like living in a place that reinvests in itself and isn’t stagnant. They like the continual growth.”

Holder said the improvements help better the image of towns and give them a sense of progressiveness.

“There’s an impacting benefit,” he said. “If you improve the streets and put in sidewalks, it’ll get kids out of walking home from school in the streets. It improves safety. It brings up values of homes and it lowers crime. It changes the mindset of a town when you have these kinds of improvements.”

Crafton said he does not foresee any changes in federal infrastructure investment, regardless of how the upcoming presidential election turns out.

“We’re seeing a big payoff,” he said. “I don’t see that trend changing. I think we’ve proven that.”