US Transportation chief urges creative solutions for infrastructure funding 

Listen to an audio version of this story produced by reporter Antoinette Grajeda. Broadcasters: Here is a 1-minute downloadable version with a host intro script.

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy urged Arkansas business leaders to consider creative solutions to funding infrastructure projects during a visit to the state’s 3rd Congressional District Monday. 

There’s not enough federal funding to support all of the country’s needed projects, but partnerships can help address this challenge, Duffy said. 

“We need to figure out better how these projects can work together with community, states, private capital and with us all coming together to make them feasible for the communities that use them,” he said.

Northwest Arkansas airport officials seek federal loan to support terminal expansion

Duffy said he wants to invest in projects that move the most people and goods during a working luncheon with transportation and business leaders at Northwest Arkansas National Airport Monday. 

The region’s officials have invested in various infrastructure projects in recent years to serve a growing population. Companies like Walmart, Tyson Foods and J.B. Hunt also have their headquarters in Benton and Washington counties and rely on local infrastructure to provide services to the rest of the country.

Republican U.S. Representative Steve Womack invited Duffy to Arkansas to view some of the region’s infrastructure projects, including a 14-mile segment of Interstate 49 between Alma and Barling. 

Locally, construction of the Arkansas River Bridge Crossing will provide congestion relief for Fort Smith and Van Buren, according to a press release from Womack’s office. 

Nationally, it’s helping close a 155-mile gap in I-49, which will provide a north-to-south interstate connection from Canada to Louisiana once it’s completed. 

Womack chairs the House Appropriations Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Subcommittee, and helped secure $21 million for the project’s construction through the appropriations process. The Arkansas Department of Transportation also received a $25 million federal grant for the project. 

Duffy was the third federal official to visit Northwest Arkansas National Airport at the invitation of Womack this year. Federal Aviation Administration Bryan Bedford attended a celebration in March for the airport’s new traffic control tower, which was supported by state and federal grants.

FAA leader highlights importance of airspace modernization in Arkansas visit 

Morteza Farajian, executive director of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Build America Bureau, discussed in August the airport’s application for a federal low-interest loan to support construction of a new terminal. 

The $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill that then-President Joe Biden signed in 2021 has funded several projects in Arkansas. All six members of the state’s Republican congressional delegation, including Womack, voted against the law.

Airport CEO Aaron Burkes said he’s optimistic the application will be approved, but Congress’ approval of a continuing resolution that funds the federal government through Dec. 11 has presented some complications. 

Congress is in recess until after the midterm elections, at which point Womack said lawmakers have work to do to finish approving fiscal year 2027 appropriation bills. Womack, who has long criticized Congress’ process for funding the federal government, said he’s set aside a lot of money legislatively for community projects across the country, including in Arkansas.

“So if you don’t get the bill signed into law, those projects go away,” he said. “And in the case of the 3rd District of Arkansas, that would cost us over $100 million.”