Brady PieperThe Arkansas Department of Transportation (ARDOT) will secure millions in federal funding to reinvigorate transportation infrastructure around Corning, located in the northeast portion of the state.
The U.S. Department of Transportation is awarding a $24.9 million federal grant to ARDOT for a highway initiative designed to redirect commercial traffic from Corning. The grant, distributed through the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) program, will support the development of a new highway bypass and advance an additional multistate effort to improve economic growth and driver safety from Walnut Ridge to Missouri.
“This transportation grant funding will be used to assist ARDOT as we work to complete the missing link in the transportation network that will ultimately connect the Little Rock metropolitan area with Chicago via an Interstate highway,” ARDOT Director Jared Wiley said.
ARDOT’s RAISE grant will be used to plan, design and construct an approximate 4.1-mile-long bypass highway that carries US Highway (US) 67 westward around Corning. The estimated $79.8 million project looks to redirect heavy commercial traffic around Corning’s downtown business district and improve public safety and quality of life.
The new bypass will begin on Highway 67 near Corning before extending north to the Missouri state line in Clay County. The new highway will feature four lanes and two interchanges with US 67 for enhanced mobility options for drivers.
Project officials expect construction on the Corning Bypass to start later this year, according to previous project estimates. Development of the new highway will highlight the regional interstate connectivity project, Future I-57, which seeks to increase mobility and commerce between the south-central U.S. and the Midwest.
RAISE, funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, is a highly competitive discretionary grant program that provides funding for communities to conduct transformative transportation projects.
The program allows state and local governments, tribal entities, transit agencies and port authorities to pursue a wide range of multimodal projects that might otherwise struggle to secure funding through traditional federal programs.
The federal RAISE program is currently processing applications for the next round of 2025 grants, which are anticipated to be announced by June. The estimated funding, approximately $150 million, will support surface transportation projects across the country that enhance public access to resources and spur private investments in local communities.
Photo courtesy Brian Stansberry, CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
