Dear Mahatma: I traveled over Interstate 40 during the Thanksgiving break and was delayed in a miles-long traffic jam around Forrest City, where there was a construction project.
Can’t we do better?
- Turkey Traveler
Dear Traveler: Let’s hop into the Way Back Machine to Nov. 8, 2011, when the state’s voters agreed to let the Arkansas Highway Commission issue up to $575 million in bonds to fix up the state’s interstate highways. No doubt many of us have forgotten this program, given that two years is a long time for humans, a longer time in dog years but the blink of an eye in interstate years.
All the bonds must be issued by Dec. 31, 2015, and will support what is expected to be more than $1 billion for interstate repairs.
A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon we’re talking about real money.
This particular project is to rebuild 7.8 miles of I-40 between mile markers 239.8 and 248.1. So said Danny Straessle, spokesman for the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department.
Traffic is down to one lane in both directions on the eastbound side, Straessle said, and the merge to one lane has caused traffic delays. That goes without saying, but he said it anyway.
(Note: A fatal accident occurred there Tuesday.)
Of course, Thanksgiving is a time when more people travel, hence the extra delays through construction zones. Hey - it’s fixin’ to be Christmas. Lots of people travel at Christmas, too.
Straessle also assures us that this project doesn’t present quite the problems of the long repair project in Prairie County that lasted about two-and-a-half years. That project had the added inconvenience of delaying the buses that travel back and forth from Little Rock to the casinos in Mississippi, thereby annoying hordes of senior citizens.
Straessle urges readers to visit www.idrivearkansas.com. A map comes up, click on the orange lines, and voila, information appears about that road project. The one around Forrest City is expected to be completed in the middle of 2014.
The map also offers traffic conditions, alternate routes, construction zones, weather information and more. The site is very cool and commendable. We should all use it more often.
Bookmark it, baby.
Now a quote: “Heads up!” Straessle says. We know this is serious because he included the exclamation point.
The Highway Department recently let a bid to reconstruct part of I-40 in Crittenden County, through West Memphis.
The project involves most of the roadway shared by Interstates 55 and 40, which by our reading of the highway map is about 2.5 miles. The work should begin after the first of the year.
Regrettably, there is no alternate route. Except for airline travel, and that’s a different kind of pain.
Vanity plate seen on vehicle belonging to a pest control company: 6LEGSUP.
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 12/21/2013