By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer
Metroplan director Jim Mc-Kenzie said that Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood had reported that the possibility of an increased federal fuel tax this year is “dead,” and that the chances for a new federal highway bill were “slim to none.”
He said the outlook for federal highway funds for the 2010 fiscal year looked “particularly bleak.”
“The onus is back on the communities,” he said. “We need a new gas tax, and not a small one.”
Richard McGee, assistant Metroplan director, announced last week that the Hwy. 67/167 Hwy. 5 interchange-ramp modification at Cabot was under way.
McGee reported that right-of-way purchase is under way to turn Graham Road into a four-lane road with about $1.5 million obligated for utility relocation and with construction slated for 2011.
Since the May meeting, the second draft and comments for the West Main/Harris Road roundabout project in Jacksonville is under way, he said.
Right-of-way certification for a sidewalk at Cabot Junior High School North is pending and plans and specifications have been submitted.
Funds are not currently available for the Cabot High School roundabout.
The board unanimously authorized Metroplan staff to apply for a $3 million sustainability grant from the U.S. Departments of Housing and Urban Development, Transportation and the EPA, signaling the board’s intent to join a consortium of universities, housing authorities, chambers of commerce, nonprofit organizations and developers in creating “METRO 2040—A Blueprint for a Sustainable Region.”
According to a draft of the grant application, Metroplan’s blueprint will develop a regional comprehensive plan for sustainability of the central Arkansas region, addressing six livability principles in an integrated fashion. It will include the 2040 transportation plan.
Those six principles are: providing more transportation choices; promoting equitable, affordable housing; enhancing economic competitiveness; supporting existing communities; coordinating policies and leveraging investment, and valuing communities and neighborhoods.
The board approved drawings for a bicycle and pedestrian pathway along Hwy. 100 at Maumelle, including a 12-foot paved pathway and a five-foot buffer between the highway and the path.
The goal is to enhance commuting and recreational opportunities between Maumelle and North Little Rock.
Despite a long string of high temperatures this summer, there has yet to be a single ozone alert or an ozone level so high as to exceed the Environmental Protection Agency’s standards, McKenzie said.
All eight-hour ozone readings in central Arkansas have been “good” since May 5 except 14 days of “moderate” ozone levels, in which unusually sensitive people should consider limiting prolonged outdoor exertion.
“I don’t know why,” he said, “given the weather we’ve had. Keep your fingers crossed.”
McKenzie reported that the board would travel to Austin on a fact-finding mission to investigate what one of what he called “the most progressive cities in the U.S.” is doing about going green.
