Community Projects

Community Projects

Fiscal Year 2025

Port Osceola Harbor Expansion

Recipient: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Memphis District)

Location: 167 North Main Street, Room B-202, Memphis, TN 38013

Amount of Request: $3,000,000

Details: The Memphis District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will be able to use this funding to expand the inland waterway port at Osceola Harbor by 3,000 feet, from its current length of 6,500 feet to 9,500 feet.

Justification: Osceola Harbor is a vital hub for the regional economy, and in recent years, there has been a significant increase in barge traffic, primarily due to the burgeoning steel industry in the region. This growth, while beneficial for the local economy, has put a strain on the current harbor infrastructure. The explosive growth of the Osceola area, and that of greater Mississippi County, Arkansas, has led to major back-ups at the harbor as barge traffic is overwhelming the available mooring locations. With additional industrial operations set to open at the harbor, the need for a longer harbor is critical.

Financial Certification

MKARNS Operation and Maintenance

Recipient: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Little Rock District

Location: 700 West Capitol Avenue, Little Rock, Arkansas 72203

Amount of Request: $10.65 million

Details: The Little Rock District of the USACE will be able to use this funding to eliminate some of the critical maintenance backlog that exists on the McKellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System (MKARNS). Specifically, the request would provide funding for the following work packages:

Procure PLC Allen Bradley Encoders, HMI, and Red Lion Spare Parts – Work Plan 1079138 ($1.6 million)
Design and Construct Tow Haulage Upgrade at Toad Suck Lock and Dam – Work Plan 1079135 ($2.5 million)
Repair and Construct Mooring Piles at MKARNS Pool #3 (1 of 2) – Work Plan 1079137 ($750,000)
Arthur V. Ormand Tainer Gate Repair – Work Plan 1079142 ($4 million)
Lock Dewater at Lock 1 – Work Plan 1077743 ($1.8 million)

Justification: The MKARNS is a 50-year-old navigation project that has a significant amount of critical maintenance that has been ignored for too long. A failure in the system could cause a loss of navigation on the entire MKARNS, which would put over 6,000 jobs in jeopardy and cause a national GDP decline of nearly $725 million.

Financial Certification

Future Interstate 57 (Walnut Ridge to Missouri State line)

Recipient: Arkansas Department of Transportation

Location: 10324 Interstate 30, Little Rock, Arkansas 72209

Amount of Request: $80,000,000

Details: The Arkansas Department of Transportation will be able to use this funding to complete construction of the remaining sections of Interstate 57 in Arkansas from Walnut Ridge to the Missouri state line. The project is detailed on the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) as Job 100512.

Justification: The addition of a four-lane highway in Arkansas that will seamlessly connect Little Rock, Arkansas, to Chicago, Illinois, will full Interstate designation throughout will attract businesses and other commercial interests to the region. It will also provide a direct link for freight and consumer movement through the south-central U.S. to the Midwest. By completing the 42-mile Arkansas section, historically disadvantaged communities in northeast Arkansas will receive economic benefits that could not otherwise be achieved.

Financial Certification

U.S. Highway 412 Improvements

Recipient: Arkansas Department of Transportation

Location: 10324 Interstate 30, Little Rock, Arkansas 72209

Amount of Request: $9,000,000

Details: The Arkansas Department of Transportation will be able to use this funding to improve U.S. Highway 412 in Boone and Lawrence counties. Specifically, the money will go toward completing the following projects outlined on the Arkansas Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) plan: Job 090578 and Job 100981. Those projects will provide widening and intersection improvements between Industrial Park Road and Highway 7 in Harrison, Arkansas, and widening improvements from Highway 117 to Highway 25 in Black Rock, Arkansas. project.

Justification: U.S. Highway 412 is a nationally significant East/West corridor that goes from northeast New Mexico in the west and travels 1,130 miles to Columbia, Tennessee in the east. Congress designated U.S. Highway 412 from Tulsa, Oklahoma, to Nashville, Tennessee, as Highway Priority Corridor 8. This corridor is part of the Arkansas Highway Commission’s Four-Lane Grid System, as well, which signifies its importance to the state.

Financial Certification

Craighead Technology Park Infrastructure

Recipient: City Water and Light of Jonesboro

Location: 400 East Monroe Avenue, Jonesboro, Arkansas 72401

Amount of Request: $1,000,000

Details: This funding will be used by City Water and Light of Jonesboro to drill new water wells and install a new 30-inch water line on the property known as the Craighead Technology Park (CTP).

Justification: The construction of additional water delivery infrastructure will aid in the development and improvement of the CTP as a regional economic hub. The Jonesboro Economic Development Corporation has invested $4 million into the CTP project, and that investment, coupled with the investments made by City Water and Light will provide economic growth and other benefits for the city, Craighead County, and the larger northeast Arkansas area, of which Jonesboro is the major hub.

Financial Certification

Mississippi County – North End Clean-Up/Eaker AFB

Recipient: Mississippi County

Location: 200 West Walnut, Blytheville, AR 72315

Amount of Request: $3,200,000

Details: This funding will be used by the Mississippi County government to remediate toxic chemicals, including PFOA and lead paint, in the dilapidated buildings still standing on a roughly 100-acre site on the former Eaker Air Force Base (AFB). This is another phase in a larger redevelopment plan for the site that will eventually provide the area with affordable, stable, new housing.

Justification: Eaker AFB underwent Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) in 1992. The federal government has not provided adequate support to the community to clean-up the base since its abandonment. The site is adjacent to the National Cold War Center and the Aeroplex, and the county is in need of affordable, new housing for the growing steel manufacturing industry. Mississippi County is the largest steel producing county in America, but continued economic growth is dependent upon new housing stock for workers and their families. Continued growth of the steel industry in the U.S. has a significant economic impact on the entire nation.

Financial Certification

Commercial Driver Training Truck Pad Expansion

Recipient: Arkansas State University, Mid-South

Location: 2000 West Broadway, West Memphis, Arkansas 72301

Amount of Request: $300,000

Details: The funding will be use by Arkansas State University, Mid-South to expand the physical footprint of the school’s Commercial Driver Training Program. The training program facility will grow from a 32,000 square foot truck pad to a 45,000 square foot truck pad.

Justification: This project will allow ASU Mid-South to offer enrollment to the more than 100 students who are currently on the school’s waiting list for this program due to limited space for instruction. Nationally, the U.S. has an estimated shortage of nearly 80,000 truck drivers, and our workforce needs are only going to grow. Over the next decade, it’s estimated that we will need to recruit and train 1.2 million new drivers to meet the growing demands of truck-based freight movement coupled with the pending retirements of current drivers. With its advantageous location, close to multiple logistics hubs which all require a well-educated, commercial driver workforce, Arkansas State University, Mid-South is in a unique position to help lessen America’s truck driver shortage.

Financial Certification

Previous years can be found below:

Fiscal Year 2023

Fiscal Year 2024

Fiscal Year 2024

North Arkansas Regional Medical Center Electronic Medical Records System Update

Recipient: North Arkansas Regional Medical Center

Location: 620 N. Main St., Harrison, AR, 72601.

Amount of Request: $1,029,842

Details: The funding would be used for the purchase of Meditech EXPANSE software to upgrade the North Arkansas Regional Medical Center’s (NARMC) electronic medical records system. The project is an appropriate use of taxpayer funds because the upgrade to Meditech EXPANSE software will improve the NARMC’s ability to provide emergency care, treat chronic disease, perform surgery, manage financial records, keep patient data private, and ultimately save more lives. EXPANSE enables efficient sharing of patient information and identifies data inconsistencies in health records – a critical issue at NARMC. Implementation of this project will ease the burden on NARMC’s staff and improve communication with patients and community partners.

Financial Certification

City of Mountain Home Water Projects

Recipient: City of Mountain Home

Location: 720 South Hickory Street, Mountain Home, AR, 72653

Amount of Request: $1,250,000

Details: The funding would be used for project engineering and planning. The project is an appropriate use of taxpayer funds because the project is to provide a means to withdraw water from Lake Norfork in Arkansas, transmit it to a water treatment facility, and provide adequate water treatment and solids disposal to meet EPA Drinking Water and Arkansas Department of Health regulations. This water system provides water for almost 75 percent of Baxter County, AR, serving a population of approximately 32,000 people, as well as commercial and industrial businesses.

Financial Certification

City of Jonesboro Fire Station and Public Safety Center

Recipient: City of Jonesboro

Location: 300 S. Church Street, Jonesboro, AR 72403

Amount of Request: $1,000,000

Details: The funding would be used for the infrastructure costs of a new Fire Station and Public Safety Center for the City of Jonesboro to expand the Jonesboro Police Department Real Time Crime, Fire, and Emergency response capabilities into a central, modernized hub. The center will also house modernized technology and equipment to improve officer and citizen safety by improving situational awareness in the field in real-time and aiding in criminal investigations using modern technology, cameras, and analytics. Additionally, the City of Jonesboro is committed to provide $2,000,000 in matching funds towards some of the construction costs and for modern first responder technology and analytics equipment.

The center will provide more staff and personnel space to provide relevant information to field officers and first responders to answer calls for service, and to provide relevant interoperable information to all public safety departments and entities in the City of Jonesboro and the surrounding Northeast Arkansas region. The convergence of these public entities would ensure interoperable communication, collaboration, and growth of all parties – ultimately increasing safety for first responders and all the citizens of Jonesboro.

Financial Certification

McClellan-Kerr Arkansas Navigation System Catastrophic Failure Prevention

Recipient: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Location: 700 West Capitol Avenue, Federal Building, 7th Floor, Little Rock, AR 72203

Amount of Request: $91,400,000

Details: The recommended plan includes the construction of a new containment structure approximately 2.5 miles long at an elevation of 157 feet with a relief channel through the Historic Closure Structure, beginning on natural high ground just south and west of the existing Melinda Cutoff Structure located on the south side of Owens Lake. It would continue east and cross south of the existing Melinda Structure, then head northeast and connect to the existing soil cement containment structure north of Jim Smith Lake where it would follow the existing containment alignment and terminate at the Historic Closure Structure. A section of the Historic Closure Structure ranging from 500 feet to 1,000 feet wide, would be lowered to elevation 145 feet to facilitate earlier water exchange during flooding to alleviate extreme head differentials between the two rivers. The Melinda Cutoff Structure would be demolished to reduce turbulence and erosion in the immediate Melinda Structure vicinity. This action would also reestablish the hydrologic connection of the two arms of Owens, increasing spawning and nursery habitat for native fish species. An opening would be constructed in the Owens Lake Structure to prevent changes in flood duration that could adversely impact forested wetlands (bottomland hardwood forest).

Justification– Since the early 1970s, continued erosion across the isthmus increases the probability of a catastrophic cutoff forming between the Arkansas and White rivers. Depending on the size of the failure, loss of the navigation channel would range from months to over a year while temporary measures are constructed. This project will save the taxpayers a tremendous amount of money in emergency work and prevent economic loss for the US economy while this crucial waterway is closed.

Financial Certification

O&M, McClellan-Kerr Arkansas Navigation System, AR & OK

Recipient: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

Location: 700 West Capitol Avenue, Federal Building, 7th Floor, Little Rock, AR 72203

Amount of Request: $74,000,000

Details: Funding will be used to address the backlog of critical maintenance projects along the 50-year-old MKARNS system. The future economic viability of the MKARNS is at risk as there is currently more than a $300 million backlog for projects including locks, dams, and other important equipment that is deteriorating to dangerous conditions. The MKARNS is vital to the economies of Arkansas and Oklahoma, as well as Kansas, which sends or receives 49 percent of the tonnage coming through ports along the MKARNS. A critical failure on the system could result in it being shut down for months and even a temporary shutdown could put future use of the system at risk, as businesses would no longer see the MKARNS as reliable and would likely find other means to transport their goods. Losing navigation on the entire MKARNS would cost over 6,000 jobs and cause national GDP to decline by $723 million.

Financial Certification

Craighead Technology Park

Recipient: City Water and Light of Jonesboro

Location: 400 E. Monroe Avenue, Jonesboro, AR 72401

Amount of Request: $1,000,000

Details: Will prepare an approximately 620-acre site in the new Craighead Technology Park (CTP) South industrial park with water infrastructure for interested industries looking to locate in Jonesboro. CWL is the provider of water, wastewater, and electric utilities in Jonesboro, and owns approximately 220 acres of the land for the proposed site. The Jonesboro Economic Development Corporation (JEDC) owns the remaining acreage. JEDC’s stated purpose is to encourage and promote the economic, agricultural, and industrial development of a city or county in this state. Adjacent to I-555, this site sits South of the current CTP, making it an optimal location for future industries desiring large-scale sites and direct access to the interstate. Aside from a single circuit, three-phase electric line bordering the western edge of the land there are no utilities currently on the site making it less than attractive for potential industries. Funding will be used to extend a 24” water line to the property. This line will provide approximately 9 million gallons per day of water flow to CTP South. As needed, CWL is committed to drill new wells and build a 30” water main extension to the commerce pumping station at an estimated cost of $5.5 million. CWL is also committed to pay for the needed electric infrastructure upgrades for the park, estimated at $7 million, in accordance with CWL approved policy. Manufacturers are looking for opportunities to relocate and/or expand to geographic locations with a lower cost of living, lower taxes, and fewer governmental restrictions and regulations. Jonesboro offers these economic benefits, but currently has no shovel ready tracts larger than 200 acres. Projects requiring a site of that size or larger, typically carry heavier investments and provide higher-wage job opportunities. The goal for this property is to make Jonesboro attractive nationally to large-scale industry and bring high wage jobs to Jonesboro and Northeast Arkansas.

Financial Certification

North End Clean Up/ Eaker Air Force Base, Mississippi County, Blytheville, Arkansas Congressional District 1

Recipient: Mississippi County, AR

Location: 200 W. Walnut, Blytheville, AR 72315

Amount of Request: $2,500,000

Details: Will provide for all equipment, labor, and transportation necessary to complete the “wet demolition”, hauling away, and disposal of approximately 238 dilapidated duplex structures (476 units) on the north end of Arkansas Aeroplex (formerly Eaker Air Force Base) in Blytheville, AR. The project is an appropriate use of taxpayer funds because after closure of Eaker Air Force Base in 1992, the Department of Defense has provided little support in repurposing and cleaning up the site, which is located adjacent to a school and a retirement home. Core components of the project include the remediation of toxic chemicals such as PFOS and lead paint and level the existing dilapidated structures on the site which are beyond repair. After the closure of the base the community was hit hard by the massive job losses. However, in recent years Mississippi County has attracted several businesses and now boasts the title of the largest steel-producing county in the United States but without the land available to support the housing demands that have with a growing economy.

Financial Certification

Highway 412 Corridor Improvements, Various Counties, Arkansas, AR-01 & AR-03

Recipient: Arkansas Department of Transportation

Location: 10324 Interstate 30, Little Rock, AR 72209

Amount of Request: $5,000,000

Details: The funding would be used for improvements on the Highway 412 corridor in Boone, Lawrence, and Washington Counties. These improvements consist of various interchange and intersection improvements, passing lanes, and major widening on various sections of Highway 412.

Financial Certification

Construction of Future I-57 from Walnut Ridge to Missouri State Line, Various Counties, Arkansas, AR-01

Recipient: Arkansas Department of Transportation

Location: 10324 Interstate 30, Little Rock, AR 72209

Amount of Request: $10,000,000

Details: The purpose of this project is to construct a section of Arkansas’ remaining portion of Future Interstate 57. This project will complete a continuous freeway facility, linking Little Rock, Arkansas to Chicago, Illinois. The benefits of this project include increased mobility and safety, enhanced economic competitiveness regionally as well as accelerated interstate commerce. The addition of a four-lane highway with a full Interstate designation would attract business to this area of Arkansas as well as provide a direct link from Little Rock, Arkansas to St. Louis, Missouri and Chicago, Illinois.

Financial Certification