DRIVETIME: Mind that work-zone speed limit

Dear Mahatma: Why is there no enforcement of the reduced speeds in interstate construction zones? If you're gonna put 'em up, enforce 'em. -- Tired

Dear Tired: "No" is a mighty big word. The Mahatma has seen, with his own eyes, such enforcement. And periodically police agencies will do saturation coverage, as was done during construction at or around the Big Rock exchange a few years ago.

Bill Sadler of the Arkansas State Police said that speed enforcement in construction zones is worked jointly by state troopers and officers of the Arkansas Highway Police. Ronnie Burks is chief of the latter, an agency of the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department.

Burks said his folks aren't typically stationary in construction zones, what with lane width restrictions and barrier walls. He said that in construction zones where traffic backs up, and rear-end collisions are a concern, units are stationed prior to the construction zones. Officers both work speed enforcement and alert drivers to slow down.

Indeed, The Mahatma was recently on Interstate 30, east of Texarkana, and a Highway Police unit was on the side of the highway, lights flashing, because of a ginormous construction bottleneck ahead.

Burks also said his agency isn't above putting an officer in a Highway Department pickup, or the cab of a track hoe, with a radar gun. Fair warning.

Want to report speeding in a construction zone? Call the central office of the Highway Police at (501) 569-2421. Or go to the Highway Department's idrivearkansas.com website. Put the cursor over the contact button, and scroll down to report a problem.

Our calendar indicates this is the Fourth of July holiday. A three-day weekend, at that.

Party! Party!

Or don't. Because, as they do every year, state troopers and other law enforcement people will devote additional manpower and patrol hours in the Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over campaign. Fair warning.

Dear Mahatma: What's going on, or not, with the opening of the unfinished portion of U.S. 67 north of Arkansas 226. I just traveled from St. Louis on U.S. 67 through Missouri -- beautiful drive and great road -- then to Central Arkansas. I decided our state should be ashamed of the delay. -- Frustrated Traveler

Dear Trav: Relief is in sight.

The Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department said the section of U.S. 67 extending from Arkansas 226 north to the metropolis of Hoxie will open with a ribbon-cutting on Aug. 11. Of this year.

Last week's column took a poke at Texas. We were asked a question about a legendary sign at the Red River Crossing in Southwest Arkansas. The sign warned folks to stay out of Texas, a place full of rattlesnakes.

Great story; likely untrue.

Or ... a reader sent in a picture of a sign at a rest stop in North Texas.

Said the sign: "Danger. Rattlesnakes. Stay away from rocks and tall weeds."

Mahatma@arkansasonline.com

Metro on 07/02/2016

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