Dear Mahatma: I travel John F. Kennedy Boulevard in North Little Rock and see the roadway deteriorate. Potholes form repeatedly, and the road is rather bumpy. Does the city have plans for any type of renovation? -- Joe
Dear Joe: Not only does the city not have plans, neither does the city have jurisdiction.
Did that make sense?
JKF Boulevard is Arkansas 107 and so belongs to the Arkansas Department of Transportation. We're told by the agency that no construction is scheduled for JFK Boulevard right now.
Dear Mahatma: A friend of mine says traffic studies show that average speeds on Cantrell Road from Rodney Parham Road to Sam Peck Road are 60 mph, even though the posted speed limit is 45 mph. Is this true? -- Zoomed Past
Dear Zoomed: Thank you for the chance to feel like a real journalist, and use the state's Freedom of Information Act to ask every agency in sight about this. Hand over, we said, any speed study done in the past five years.
Asking started with the Little Rock traffic guys. Nope. No traffic study. Because Cantrell Road is really Arkansas 10 and so is under the jurisdiction of the Arkansas Department of Transportation.
Aha! How about it, dudes? Give over those traffic studies.
Negatory. There are none over the past five years, we are told. The reason is quite interesting.
The Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices says speed studies should be done one-half mile from a signalized intersection. Between Rodney Parham and Sam Peck Road, there are five signals, all shorter distances apart.
Not that our reader's friend is wrong. Our experience is that some drivers go madly fast here. A solution is to call the Little Rock Police Department at (501) 371-4605 to inquire about speed enforcement.
Dear Mahatma: Regularly on Interstates 430 and 630, traffic jams are caused by people driving significantly under the speed limit. Forty-five mph is often observed. Drivers are supposed to drive near the speed limit on interstates. Why don't these drivers stay on the side streets rather than cause a traffic jam? -- Charles
Dear Charles: We have something to say about this.
A lot of slowpokes we personally see are either talking on the phone or texting. Or putting on makeup. Or reading the newspaper. But mostly using a cellphone.
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety tells us that researchers have consistently linked texting or otherwise using a cellphone to increased risk of a crash.
Arkansas Code Annotated 27-51-1601, the state's no-texting law, tells us that drivers under 18 may not use a cellphone or a hands-free device. Drivers 18 and older may use a hands-free device, and drivers 21 or older may use a cellphone. But in the latter two cases, drivers should be aware that it's never safe to talk and drive.
Vanity plate: 10THMTN. As in the Army's 10th Mountain Division.
Fjfellone@gmail.com
Metro on 09/08/2018