Mike Beebe

Candidate for Governor

Arkansas

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Drive talk
Northwest Arkansas Times
Tuesday, February 28, 2006

In the shadow of Valentine’s Day, Attorney General Mike Beebe visited Fayetteville —

and proceeded to break our hearts.

It’s not that it was specifically Beebe saying it, because practically any politician can leave us numbed by the discussion of Arkansas’ needs vs. how much money the state has to address them. During a recent lunch, Beebe’s thoughtful rhetoric served as a stark reminder of just how difficult it is to fund the construction and expansion of highways across Arkansas. And this despite the nagging reality that today’s transportation structure isn’t going to be enough to sustain our economy of tomorrow. Not surprisingly, Beebe’s talk — which preceded a visit by Arkansas Highway Commissioner Jonathan Barnett in Fayetteville by just a few days — hinged on the importance of job growth, and the economic development that implies.

Of course, there are lots of different ways to stimulate an economy, from raising educational standards to improving health care standards to improving infrastructure. As most people appreciate, one of the most obvious options is the constant expansion and addition to the state’s highways, which oftentimes makes redevelopment in other areas easier to envision. Of course, lots of places across Arkansas could use an influx of business; but it’s going to take good roads (yes, even in the 21 st century) to make everything work.

Over the course of the coming decade, Barnett has said, Arkansas will have nearly $16 billion in highway needs, but less than $4 billion in funding. Even if one believes the numbers are exaggerated, clearly the Natural State is going to be up against a rock and a hard place. If more funding doesn’t become available, the approaching bottleneck speaks for itself. At a minimum, too many necessary projects will go unfunded at the current pace.

So — how are those dollars the state does receive going to be distributed? Well, that’s where Beebe’s talk got us down a bit. He couldn’t help but remind us that in Arkansas being a commissioner on the state Highway Department means a great deal more than maybe it ought to, and over the course of their 10-year appointments, they influence where the money gets spent a great deal. Currently, the highway commission doles out money into Arkansas’ five regional highway districts evenly.

You probably get our drift. The way things are run creates a good chance some areas of the state aren’t going to receive the amount of funding they rightly deserve. In Northwest Arkansas, it comes as no surprise that the business community is of the mindset that funding ought to be directed wherever high traffic volumes demand it. Such an approach would mean allocating a lot of the state’s resources to Northwest Arkansas.

Since we agree that such reasoning is sound, it was reassuring to learn that Beebe agrees with that line of thinking, that Beebe intends to appoint commissioners that feel the same way, that Beebe believes the money ought to follow the cars. For a variety of reasons, eastern and southern Arkansas just don’t need highway dollars the way Northwest Arkansas seems to. Roads here are straining beneath the heavy growth we’re experiencing, and hopefully that won’t change. Of course, one of the things that could make this booming economy dry up is a bottleneck out there on the highways. Highway dollars aren’t just about big business; they’re also about keeping communities alive and thriving.

Interestingly, Beebe also argued that parts of the state’s economically deprived areas deserve extra funding at times, and we completely agree. Northwest Arkansas cannot assume a position that demands an overwhelming share of the state’s resources, even if one accepts that this corner of the state is driving so much of Arkansas’ economy. We’re ultimately one state and we cannot afford to leave any part of the state behind.

But, as the attorney general said, the rest of the state should appreciate the success story that is Northwest Arkansas, and understand that increasing transportation funding (for highways, an interconnecting bus system, even continued study of a light-rail system) is a necessary component of avoiding bottlenecks we can’t begin to imagine, and making sure our humming economy doesn’t one day go POOF.

That wouldn’t be good for any part of the state.