As our economy continues to face challenges and uncertainty, one of our top priorities should be to help people find a job or keep the one they have.  By ensuring that every Arkansan looking for a job has one, we can work to keep families in their homes, small businesses open and our economy functioning.

Over the past few weeks, I have been in conversations with Democrats and Republicans in our nation’s capital pushing for another economic stimulus to provide a much needed shot in the arm to our struggling economy.  However, instead of giving people another government check with money borrowed from places like China, I want to give them a job with a modern-day President Roosevelt Work Projects Administration (WPA) program where we would rebuild our nation’s infrastructure.     

We learned a tragic lesson on Aug. 1, 2007, when I-35 West collapsed in Minneapolis killing 13 people.  We have also since learned that numerous other structures across our nation could face similar fates if left unaddressed.  In fact, there are 6,126 structurally deficient National Highway System bridges in the United States, including 43 in the state of Arkansas and 11 here in the Fourth Congressional District. We can no longer ignore our nation’s deteriorating infrastructure or our state’s growing need to expand the current infrastructure system.

For every billion dollars we spend on road construction, 42,000 new jobs are created.  As we work to position Arkansas as a national leader in business and as a global economic player, we must first ensure that our state’s infrastructure is top-notch.  Since I first took office, I have pushed for funding to expand U.S. Highway 82 and 167 to four lanes, to complete the Hot Springs Expressway and to build Interstate 49 (I-49), Interstate 69 (I-69), and Interstate 530 (I-530).

I also strongly support strengthening passenger rail service in the Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas region (the Ark-La-Tex region).  The economic and infrastructure needs of this region are steadily increasing and meeting these needs will require a tri-state effort.  The introduction of high-speed rail in the Ark-La-Tex region would be key to these efforts as it would help bring together numerous transportation routes from each state.

I understand the importance of these projects in our highway and transportation system as well as their importance to our local and state economies, and I will continue working toward their completion.  Last year, I worked to ensure I-69 was named one of six “Corridors of the Future” by the Department of Transportation, which recently released $800,000 to the Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department for an I-69 financing study.  By giving I-69 this special recognition, it will be given priority among numerous national highway needs at a time when there are limited federal resources available.  I am also proud to have helped secure millions of dollars for I-49, including $300 million for construction in the most recent 5-year highway authorization bill.

The condition and needs of our infrastructure in Arkansas have always been and will continue to be one of my top priorities in Congress. I will continue to emphasize the importance of theses projects on our transportation system and on the economy in Arkansas’s Fourth Congressional District.

Sincerely,

 
Mike Ross

Congressman Mike Ross frequently hosts Town Hall Meetings throughout the Fourth Congressional District to update local residents on his work in Washington on behalf of the people of Arkansas.  Mike's Town Hall Meetings are open to the public.  Please join him when he will be in:

Lake Village:  Monday, Oct. 27, 2008, 2:30 p.m. - 3:30 p.m., Chicot County Courthouse, 108 North Main Street, Lake Village, Ark.

Mike hosts a Town Hall meeting on Oct. 21 in Hampton to update residents on his work in Washington on behalf of  Arkansas's Fourth Congressional District.