Flowers: I-69 in Arkansas is far off

A joint meeting of the House Transportation Committee and the legislature's Joint Performance Review Committee took place yesterday at the Southland Park greyhound track in West Memphis. It will continue today. During yesterday's meeting, AHTD Director Dan Flowers told lawmakers that Interstate 69 will be built on only a piecemeal basis unless the federal government makes a major financial commitment to the route.

The Federal Highway Administration approved the I-69 route through much of Arkansas in 2006. Estimates then put the highway's 185-mile Arkansas portion at $1.7 billion (which has already doubled). The state match is a little under a billion. Here's more from Trucker Magazine.