There’s no denying that the state of the economy, both nationally and locally, had to be on the forefront of everyone’s mind at some point in 2009.
The worst economic recession in decades clearly threatened to plague the administrative efforts if not the overall legacy of newly elected President Barak Obama. He wasted little time post-election in assembling a team of advisers and elected officials to create a plan to stimulate our lagging economy nationwide. Thus the first in a series of “stimulus” packages in various forms were proposed and enacted.
Ranging from propping up weak financial institutions to try and restore a weakened credit market to in essence buying controlling interest in major national employers like GM; the federal government doled unprecedented amounts of stimulus dollars in an attempt to give the economy a boost by creating expendable income. The key, according to the concept’s creators, were that the money should make its way into the hands of the American people in the form of wages and project dollars as quickly as possible. That’s why, when it came to the part of the plan that included monies for infrastructure projects, they had to be “shovel ready”; meaning if you were to get money for a bridge or highway project, it needed to be something you had already been planning and/or needing to the point you could begin to work on it immediately. Another key area targeted by the administration was education; pouring billions into the infrastructure and technology of public schools. But because of the slow nature of such major construction projects, it can take some time from the announcement of the awarding of funds to the actual implementation of those funds.
That’s why many people may not initially recognize the effects the stimulus package had on the Northeast Arkansas region. But, as the federal government put a lot of money out across the nation in an effort to stimulate a lagging economy, Northeast Arkansas certainly benefited.
Craighead County received almost $40,000,000 for road projects alone. The county’s school districts received a total of approximately $169,488,810; with the money being divided up between Jonesboro Public Schools, Nettleton Public Schools, Valley View, Bay, Riverside, Brookland, Westside Consolidated and Buffalo Island Central.
Greene County received $750,000 for a road project concerning Reynolds Road and Highway 49B. Additionally, the county received $7,317,833 in educational funding to be disbursed between the county’s three school districts: Marmaduke School District, Greene County Tech School District, and the Paragould School District.
Lawrence County received $32, 350,000 for road projects for Highway 230 at Highway 63 and Highway 67B in Walnut Ridge. The county was allotted $4, 545,576 for its school districts including: Lawrence County Public Schools, Hillcrest, Sloan Hendrix, and Hoxie.
The county of Poinsett was awarded $1,000,000 to do some roadwork at the Craighead County line. The county was also given $7,787,330 for its school systems including: East Poinsett County, Weiner, Trumann, Marked Tree, Harrisburg, and Crowley’s Ridge.
Cross County wasn’t awarded any stimulus money for any road projects, though it was allotted money for its education system. The county was given $4,579,165 total for education to be divided up between the Wynne School District, Cross County School District and Wynne Public Schools.
In Mississippi County, Blytheville was awarded $350,000 for an I-55 West project, as well as $450,000 for a Highway 119Y project in Osceola. Education money the county was given was divided up between Armorel, Blytheville, South Mississippi County, Gosnell, Manilla, Osceola, and Manila. The county received approximately $17,590,497 in money for education alone.
West Memphis was given $6,400,000 for an Arkansas Welcome Center as well as $6,000,000 for access road improvements going to the facility. Crittenden County also received $2,250,000 for a highway project from Highway 50 to Highway 70 in the county. Crittenden County was also the recipient of the EECBG (Energy Efficiency & Conservation Block Grant), which allotted the county an additional $217,000. Crittenden County school district affected by the stimulus included: Turrell, Marion, West Memphis, and Earle. The county received close to $19,000,000 in funding.
Jackson County was another Northeast Arkansas county to not receive funding for any road projects, though the county did receive funding for education in the amount of $4,198,573 to be divided amongst the Newport School District, the Jackson County School District, and the Newport Special School District.
Pocahontas, in Randolph County, received funding for a road project on Highway 90 in the amount of $300,000 in addition to its funding for its transit system. The county was awarded $808,000 for improvements to the system. In educational funding the county was given a total of $2,188,304.
Batesville was given $260,000 for a signal light to be installed at Highway 167. Additionally, Independence County was awarded a total of $6,156,678 in grants for schools in Batesville, Pleasant Plains South, Black River West, Cushman, Southside, Midland, and Cedar Ridge.
Clay County was fortunate enough to have been awarded a $1,100,000 grant for a road project on Highway 328 at the Missouri state line. And, finally, the county was given $3,378, 013 to be given to the county’s school districts in Rector, Piggott, and Corning.
Though states were given other grants for various projects, the numbers provided were the largest amounts of money given out within the state under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
Additionally, on Dec. 9 the highway commission opened bids for five additional ARRA funded transportation projects. At that time Arkansas was projected to receive an additional $351,544,468 for highways and bridges, and $28,000,000 for transit capital grants. The goal of the additional funding is to improve highway safety and mobility, according to the commission.
Also, $21.9 million has been awarded to widen 4.4 miles of U.S. Highway 167 in Dallas County. The highway commission is also prepared to widen U.S. Highway 412 from five lanes to six at a cost of $7.6 million.
ARRA funds have paid for 77 highway projects totaling more than $42 million, or 170 miles that have been completed. Currently, 28 projects are currently slated to be obligated by March 2010.
