Results of a study ordered by the Arkansas Highway Commission show tolls could pay for extra lanes on Interstate 40 between North Little Rock and West Memphis.
Currently, the 110-mile section has just two lanes in both directions.
Despite the study’s findings, federal law bans charging tolls on interstates, except under limited circumstances. However, the federal transportation department is allowing three states to pilot the concept of funding interstate infrastructure costs through tolls.
Missouri, Virginia and North Carolina have been selected to test the project by adding a toll lane, but the states have been slow to make progress. “[Arkansas is] ready if one of the other states drops out or the federal government (eases its) restrictions,” Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department spokesman Randy Ort said in a Little Rock meeting when the study was released.
The study determined that a toll cost of 9 cents per mile (or $9.90 for a one-way trip between North Little Rock and Memphis) for cars and 27 cents per mile (or $29.70 for the whole stretch) would provide the funding for an extra lane in each direction of the 110-mile section.
There are no current plans to create toll roads, and Danny Straessle, AHTD spokesman, said that the study was just to explore the feasibility of such a project.
Shannon Newton, president of the Arkansas Trucking Association, said the industry would instead favor raising the federal tax on diesel fuel.
