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AHTD Developing Long Range Intermodal Transportation Plan

Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department

The Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department is developing a 25-year plan that will assess the public’s transportation needs.  Consultant Maggie Doll attended a public involvement meeting in Jonesboro yesterday.  She says the Long Range Intermodal Transportation Plan will cover numerous transportation areas.  She says the plan is called We Move Arkansas 2040.

“This is a policy document that looks at how we want to invest in transportation over the next 25 years, whether that be through highways, rail, air, public transportation, and other modes as to how Arkansas will move in the future.  This is important because we want to make sure the investments that are made in the future meet the needs of the public.”

According to Doll, this is a broad plan that will look at long range goals.

“Instead of looking at specific projects, this will focus more on goals, whether that be safety and security, the condition of the infrastructure, the economic competitiveness of the state, and so forth.”

The Highway and Transportation Department is currently holding meetings across the state to get the public’s input on the plan.  Doll tells what she has heard so far.

“People are talking a lot about the condition of the highways and what those needs will look like in the future, such as whether additional lanes may be needed or if new highways need to be built.  We have also heard a push toward adding more bicycle and pedestrian facilities for the public.  These are all things we need to hear.”

Doll says the public involvement meetings are the first step in the process.

“So, we are holding these meetings across the state now.  We will start analyzing the comments and come back to the public at the first of the year for more comments.  We hope to have a final plan drafted this summer. 

Maggie Doll is a consultant with We Move Arkansas.  Doll says the goal is to have a draft plan ready to be presented to the public by the summer.  Doll says the final adoption of the plan is also expected in the summer.  You can still submit public comments here.        

Johnathan Reaves is the News Director for KASU Public Radio. As part of an Air Force Family, he moved to Arkansas from Minot, North Dakota in 1986. He was first bitten by the radio bug after he graduated from Gosnell High School in 1992. While working on his undergraduate degree, he worked at KOSE, a small 1,000 watt AM commercial station in Osceola, Arkansas. Upon graduation from Arkansas State University in 1996 with a degree in Radio-Television Broadcast News, he decided that he wanted to stay in radio news. He moved to Stuttgart, Arkansas and worked for East Arkansas Broadcasters as news director and was there for 16 years.