Stimulus projects were ‘shovel ready’

The Faulkner County projects chosen for economic stimulus package funding have been decided, many based on how quickly the money could be spent rather than how badly the projects were needed. Below are descriptions of the larger stimulus projects in Faulkner County and, if applicable, what other needed projects are still on hold because they weren’t “shovel ready.”

Conway’s stimulus projects

In Conway, only one major street project is funded through the stimulus: the Salem Road railroad overpass near the new intersection of Salem and Meadowlake roads.

City Engineer Ronnie Hall said that stimulus money administered by the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department funds 80 percent of the project, which cost a total of $3,342,770.20.

Other than this, Hall said, stimulus money has funded a few street overlays and other smaller projects.

Was the overpass the most needed project in the city? According to Hall, two other large projects identified on the city’s master street plan as necessary to accommodate future growth are the widening of Prince Street from Salem Road to the new roundabout at Western Avenue and the widening of College Avenue from Donaghey Avenue to Salem Road. 

Both of these projects would cost between $3 million and $5 million, he said — roughly comparable with the Salem Road overpass, which Hall noted is also identified as needed for growth on the master plan.

Though these street widening projects would have had as much, if not greater benefit to the city, Hall said that it didn’t seem inequitable that the Salem Road project got the nod, as right-of-way and environmental assessment issues there had already been sorted out. These issues — and especially right-of-way — would be “quite a challenge to whoever tries to acquire them” in the street widening projects.

“They were ready to put money into the economy and the others would have taken some time to get wrapped up and the right-of-way purchased,” Hall said.

Faulkner County’s stimulus projects

Faulkner County’s major stimulus project — and among the largest stimulus-funded projects in the state — is the paving of the Vilonia Bypass, for which AHTD has allocated about $46 million.

Described roughly, the bypass will route Highway 64 traffic south of Vilonia starting near the Highway 36 intersection and crossing Highway 107 just north of the Highway 319 intersection, rejoining Highway 64 a few miles east of Vilonia.

“It was shovel-ready, and they’d been working on it for two years,” County Judge Preston Scroggin said. “It’s a huge paving job, and they saw a chance to get it done.”

The bypass is funded fully by AHTD, but Scroggin said the county will soon start work on its largest internally funded project, the relocation of a bridge on Saltillo Road, which is expected to cost $1.6 million and came in “right at the wire” for stimulus funding.

There are several other stimulus projects in the county, Scroggin said, including a program to build about five miles of sidewalks in Vilonia to connect the downtown area to the Vilonia School District campus “and a few odd and end bridge projects.”

Scroggin described a wish list of other projects that, while needed, weren’t funded.

“In my opinion in the county, and the city as well, we needed at least another railroad overpass somewhere in the Conway area pretty bad, and I wish we could have funded one in Mayflower too,” he said. “I wish we could have seen it go more to four or five lanes in city streets. I wish that we could have had more for bridges in the county and I wish that on a couple of our major connector roads in the county we could have widened them or put shoulders on them.”

Like Hall, Scroggin said he couldn’t fault the decision to move on “shovel-ready projects” rather than wait for other projects to come to fruition.

“I guess that my only gripe would have been more on a national level rather than what we had here,” he said. “I don’t think we spent enough on infrastructure — roads and bridges and dams and things like that. I’m real big on infrastructure in this country.”

Public schools

Faulkner County’s public schools each put their stimulus funding to work on improvements for their districts.

Dr. Greg Murry, superintendent of Conway Schools, said the district received $7 million. 

The funds were used to upgrade and improve several older schools, including significant plumbing improvements at Ida Burns and Sallie Cone Elementary Schools and new roof work at Carl Stuart Middle School, he said. Keyless access and video surveillance in all buildings is an ongoing project, he said.

“We definitely wanted to use (the funds) in a wise way and make sure this significant investment in our school district is used in a wise way,” Murry said. “Hopefully, we can add to the life of the buildings ... and make them a better place for kids to learn.”

Greenbrier Schools received $1.6 million, according to superintendent Scott Spainhour. He said the district purchased a lot of technology, including smart boards and document cameras and student computers. The district also purchased a special needs bus. Future projects will include updating science labs and alarm systems and adding more technology.

“We were really able to catch up on our technology, and that was a big thing we wanted to do,” he said.

Dr. Frank Mitchell, superintendent of Vilonia Schools, said the district received $1.4 million. The funds were used for updating technology, professional development and adding playground equipment for disabled children. The district also plans to add two handicapped-accessible buses, he said.

Mitchell said while he was pleased with the technology updates for the school, he thought the funds could have been allocated more equitably. If awards had been based on the state funding formula, Vilonia would have received much more and might have been able to do more, he said.

Mayflower Schools received $617,922, according to Superintendent John Gray. He noted awards are based on poverty levels, which are not high in Mayflower.

He said the district spent the funds on a variety of things, including technology, renovating two classrooms and renovating a science lab.

“I think we were happy with what we spent it on, but there were strings attached to control what we could spend it on,” he said. “If we could have open range, we could have spent it on other priorities.”

Mount Vernon-Enola Schools received $300,000, according to Jason Clark, superintendent.

He said the district made some renovations, added technology to classrooms and took measures to make buildings more energy efficient. He said the school had two sports-related projects under construction that could not be funded by stimulus funds.

“It is additional money, and I am grateful for everything we got,” he said. “It has allowed us to do things we would not ordinarily get to purchase, especially in the classroom.”

Energy Efficiency Grant

The city of Conway received an Energy Efficiency Grant for $564,600 through the U.S. Department of Energy. Community Development Director Lauralee McCool said the 10 largest cities and the 10 largest counties in each state were eligible to apply. 

She said the city will use the grant to purchase LED traffic lights, purchase and install equipment to regulate traffic signals and start a revolving loan for residential builders.

City Planner Bryan Patrick said the revolving loan program will offset the cost to builders to purchase energy efficient appliances. When builders sell the homes and pass on the cost to buyers, they give the money back to revolve the loan, he explained.

Conway Corporation is a sub-grantee, McCool said. Conway Corp. will manage a residential revolving loan fund for homeowners for energy efficient upgrades. A portion of the grant will be used by Conway Corp. to purchase blower door testing equipment to perform home energy audits. The utility will also use part of its funds for an education program for seventh-graders about energy saving techniques for homeowners.

The city also received a Community Development Block Grant from Housing and Urban Development, McCool said, which will be used for sidewalks.

She said, “We put sidewalks in several low-to-moderate income areas. Our primary goals were to increase walkability to Ida Burns, Laurel Park (from Donaghey Avenue), UCA, and from the mobile home park (Chateau Village) on Robins to the Price Cutter grocery store on Harkrider.”

Mayor Tab Townsell, Assistant to the Mayor Jack Bell and McCool “actually drove around and looked for worn dirt paths in order to determine where to put the sidewalks,” she said. “We were limited to areas identified as low-to-moderate income by 2005 estimates. We had some areas where people definitely wanted sidewalks that did not meet the criteria.”

(Staff writer Rachel Parker Dickerson can be reached at 505-1277, and staff writer Joe Lamb can be reached at 505-1238 or by e-mail at rachel.dickerson@thecabin.net or joe.lamb@thecabin.net. Send us your news at www.thecabin.net/submit.)