Dear Knowledgeable One: Surely you have addressed this before, but why do big-rig drivers block lanes of the interstate highways when approaching construction zones? They leave huge gaps, causing even more congestion.
It’s infuriating!
- Golfer Girl
Dear Golfer Girl: Why, yes, this issue has been addressed here before.
About two years ago. It may be said that nearly every highway and driving question has been addressed here, given that the seventh anniversary of this column is next week. Whose idea was this, anyway?
We again pitched the problem to Chief Ron Burks of the Arkansas Highway Police, an agency whose prime function is to police the trucking industry.
“Yes,” he says, “we get complaints regarding traffic backups in work zones. Commercial motor vehicles running rolling roadblocks are always an issue whenever we have a backup.” Truckers drive slowly side by side to prevent other drivers from cutting in, he says, and while truckers think they’re helping control traffic, doing so can make congestion worse.
“We do cite these CMV drivers and actively work the backup to stop the traffic when we have officers available. We also cite those passenger car drivers that fail to merge and who travel beyond the black and white Merge Now regulatory sign.”
Burks makes a pitch for idriveArkansas.com, a website operated by Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department in which all the construction zones are labeled. A look at the iDrive map shows a snootload of such zones, many of them on controlled access highways.
Some things to remember, also known as “laws:”
Arkansas Code Annotated 27-51-301 says “Motor vehicles shall not be operated continuously in the left lane of a multilane roadway whenever it impedes the flow of other traffic.”
Arkansas Code Annotated 27-51-1610 says use of handheld cellphones in work zones is prohibited.
Arkansas Code Annotated 27-50-408 allows for the doubling of fines for moving violations in work zones.
Personal to Golfer Girl: The Mahatma loves golf and uses the 12-step program to improve his swing. That is, there are only 12 steps to a great golf swing. Regrettably, he forgets the first nine by the time he gets to the last.
Dear Mahatma: Here’s a worthy project for the newspaper. Do a survey on how many drivers would pay a toll for a third lane of Interstate 40 from Little Rock to Memphis.
- Turtle Hill
Dear Turtle: Randy Ort of the Highway Department says federal law doesn’t allow the tolling of an interstate if federal funds were used in its original construction. But, he says, the feds are looking at ways to help states fund major projects. One idea is to allow tolling of existing interstates to add capacity.
So the Highway Department has a toll study underway in case Arkansas gets a shot at a pilot program.
Readers - would you pay a toll for a third lane both ways on I-40, Little Rock to Memphis?
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 03/29/2014