Dear Mahatma: Question for Mr. Scott Bennett. Where were the inspectors when the elastromeric bearing pads were installed incorrectly? -- Weary of Excuses
Dear Weary: You have shocked our Saturday morning readers halfway through that first cup of joe. Elastromeric what?
Let's back up to a column in mid-December, in which Bennett, director of the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department, answered a couple of questions about the bridge over the White River at Clarendon. The bridge is yet to open, because the contractor is required to fix the incorrectly installed pads, which rest between the bridge beams and the cap on the support columns.
The pads allow the bridge beams to expand and contract, which makes a bridge flexible. Flexibility is desirable in a bridge, which is subjected to wind, changes in temperature and heavy loads.
Back to the question at hand, regarding the Highway Department's inspectors. We went back to the well, meaning Bennett, who answered in detail. We will do our best to translate the engineering. Deep breath and ... go!
A total of 878 bearing pads were installed. The orientation of the pads on the cap is required to be marked by the manufacturer. The pads were installed according to the shop drawings and the manufacturer's markings. Highway Department inspectors were on hand.
Further investigation by the Highway Department revealed the orientation markings on the pads were reversed on 70 instances, causing them to be installed backward. Fifty-eight of the pads required correction.
Inspection procedures have been modified to include verification of the manufacturer's markings to reduce the risk of this sort of thing happening again.
Phew. Everybody capiche?
Dearest Mahatma: We have a new grandbaby in St. Louis. Which means a lot of travel on U.S. 67. Any idea on when that last leg of four-lane highway will be completed? -- GT and Marmie
Dear Folks: A baby is God's answer to the question -- should the world go on?
We have received a flurry of such questions. So we asked the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department, whose employees pretend they never get tired of The Mahatma.
David Nilles of the Highway Department said two projects will extend U.S. 67 to Hoxie where it will tie into U.S. 63.
The project from Arkansas 226 near Cash north to Arkansas 230 is complete except for striping. The other project, extending the new four-lane from Arkansas 230 north to U.S. 63 should be completed at the end of October of this year. Together, this is a length of about 22 miles.
At this time, there are no plans to widen U.S. 67 north of Pocahontas.
One of our correspondents saw a vanity plate, "Pitch A," on a Honda Fit. The owner told our correspondent he wanted "Hissy," but it had been taken. We had Hissy here in October 2013. Small world, Arkansas.
Mahatma@arkansasonline.com
Metro on 03/05/2016