Drivetime Mahatma

Driver says lights favor side streets

Merry Mahatma: On 65th Street at night certain traffic lights seem to operate backward. Instead of traffic on 65th Street having preference, the cross streets seem to. What gives? -- Observant Bill

Dear Bill: It's a day for guys named Bill. The other is Bill Henry, Little Rock's traffic engineering manager.

Detection issues, Henry said. Staff dispatched to repair the detection issues.

Dear Mahatma: What is the time frame for completion of work on Fair Park between Interstate 630 and Markham Street? -- Muriel

Dear Muriel: The Mahatma and a beautiful girl drove through this project on Monday; you asked the question on Tuesday. Coincidence or conspiracy?

The facts are thus, as conveyed with alacrity by the city's spokesman, Jennifer Godwin.

Another two weeks before the intersection is fully functional. Weather has delayed work on the final paving and lane markings.

Exactly what is this project? It's a traffic circle, approved by the Board of Directors back in 2013. The traffic circle will cost right at $1 million. Construction started about July 1 and was planned to take four months. Sometimes the plans of mice and engineers go astray.

When the new intersection is up and running, Muriel, remember that traffic coming into the circle always yields to traffic already in the circle. Neither should a driver who misses his exit fret. This is a circle. The proper exit will reappear.

Dear Mahatma: Considering traffic jams in downtown every day, and the Broadway Bridge, has the city considered making downtown streets two lanes as they were meant to be? These single-lane streets with a seldom-used bike lane are ridiculous. -- Tired Already

Dear Tired: When you read this, sipping coffee, the Broadway Bridge will open in 108 days, 12 hours, 10 minutes and 17 seconds. More or less.

Converting downtown streets to include a lane for bicycles has been a hot topic in Little Rock for a while. Maybe the hottest was Louisiana Street. Public debate went on, a bicycle lane was added to several blocks, and life returned to normal.

But are there bicyclists using that lane on Louisiana? Anecdotal observation -- The Mahatma walks across and drives down Louisiana a couple of times a week -- results in a sighting of exactly one dude on a bike.

Two years ago The Mahatma observed bicycle traffic on Main Street, part of which was repaved and re-striped to add bicycle lanes on both sides. During six hours of watching traffic go by over several days, the count was 12 bicyclists. Five of those were on the sidewalk, for heaven's sake.

This is at bottom a political question. If the city board wants to re-stripe those streets to accommodate more vehicular traffic, it will. Given the effort and cost to add the bicycle lanes, that seems unlikely.

Vanity plate seen on a black Lincoln Town Car: LOBABE. This car is obviously a chick magnet.

Mahatma@arkansasonline.com

Metro on 12/10/2016

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