Dear Wise One: I bought a piece of large equipment in eastern Arkansas and needed to move it to western Arkansas. It needed a three-axle lowboy and a $250 oversize permit. I figured I would cross the Arkansas River at Pine Bluff on U.S. 79B. Not so fast, says the permit fella on the phone -- you can't cross that bridge; it's an Army Corps of Engineers bridge. What about the new bridge on the Pine Bluff bypass? Nope, that's a Corps bridge, too. What to do? Go to Little Rock, get on the interstate, cross the river on Interstate 30 downtown in all that traffic. Who dreams up such a rule? -- Small-town Driver
Dear Driver: We know the permit fella on the phone was with the Arkansas Department of Transportation. So we posed the matter to spokesman Danny Straessle.
It's a long answer, and we plan to garble it as much as possible.
Corps of Engineers-owned bridges on state highways include those that cross dams or locks. The Corps has requested that the DOT not route any overweight vehicles across these bridges. As everyone knows, the maximum legal weight is 80,000 pounds.
When someone contacts the DOT and requests a permit to transport a heavy load, among the information requested is the total weight and the total number of axles on the trailer hauling it.
"It's likely your reader would have been able to transport the heavy load across the Arkansas River on Highway 79B at Pine Bluff if the weight was distributed over more axles," Straessle speculated. But with only three axles, combined with the weight, is probably what made the load ineligible. More axles more evenly distributes the weight.
One size does not fit all, Straessle said. Each permit request is heavily weighed (his pun) against the requested route, the bridges and highways along the intended route.
Footnote: Bridges with weight limits are shown on the website idrivearkansas.com. See the map titled "Weight Restricted State Bridges."
Dear Mahatma: The Central High School sign on Interstate 630 is in deplorable condition. As you know, the 60th anniversary of the integration of the school is upcoming. Any chance of a new sign? -- History Buff
Dear Buff: We are told by the Arkansas Department of Transportation that the sign should be replaced by Sept. 22. "Reflections on Progress" events are set Sept. 22-25.
Dear Mahatma: I believe license plates are replaced with a new one (with a new number) after eight years. I happened to see a car yesterday with a license number which should have been gone a long time ago. Is there an option to keep the plate beyond eight years? -- Watching Traffic
Dear Watching: Joel DiPippa is an attorney for the Department of Finance and Administration. He said there is not an option to keep license plates longer than eight years. Several years ago, he said, DF&A began using a new computer system, and it's possible that in the rollout of the system, there were implementation irregularities.
Fjfellone@gmail.com
Metro on 08/26/2017