Dear Mahatma: How do you get a traffic signal installed? The first Beebe exit off U.S. 67/167 is U.S. 64, which has seen rapid growth. I swear the majority of my commute from Little Rock back home is actually getting off the freeway here! The exit is backed up every day as we try to pull out onto a congested U.S. 64. -- Old Friend
Dear Friend: David Nilles, a spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Transportation, said there are no plans right now to put a traffic signal there. Then he gave us a summary, not including every single detail, of how to get a traffic light there. Or anywhere.
First, get the governing body to request that ArDot do a traffic study of the interchange. In this case, that would be the city of Beebe.
This is important because the city must be willing to sign an agreements to accept maintenance of the signal after it's built and installed.
If the study indicates a need for a signal, that need is put on ArDot's list to build as the money becomes available.
Good luck, old friend.
Dear Mahatma: Now I'm being told, via social media, that ArDot plans a cloverleaf at the U.S. 67/167 exit at U.S. 64 in Beebe. It's part of an improvement plan. I'm not sure if that's true, and I have no clue how a cloverleaf works, but it sounds complicated. -- Old Friend Again
Dear Again: You have accomplished the remarkable -- two questions in one column. Bless your heart.
We went back to the well and asked Nilles of ArDot. He said the agency is currently resurfacing 4 miles of U.S. 64 from Beebe west, so there's construction activity in the area. That should be done in October, but does not include interchange work.
A project down the road will rehabilitate U.S. 67/167 through the Beebe area. Some bridge replacements are included, but no cloverleaf or major design changes. That work is scheduled for August of 2019.
Dear Mahatma: I was passing a weigh station and wondered why some trucks have to stop and some don't? -- Wayne
Dear Wayne: Hope your golf game is on the rise. Ours remains problematic.
This has something to do with "transponders," whatever they are. What they are, dude, are small electronic devices that attach to the inside of a truck's windshield. Transponders allow trucks to zip on by a weigh station by transmitting the truck's weight and other data.
Jay Thompson, chief of the Arkansas Highway Police, tells us that if the data check out, a signal is sent back to the transponder authorizing the truck to bypass the weigh station.
Last week's column about decorative lighting for the the Broadway bridge has generated another pledge for $100 from a generous reader. This is in addition to the $100 we pledged.
Only $2 million-ish to go.
Vanity plate: TESTIFY.
Fjfellone@gmail.com
Metro on 08/25/2018