Dear Master of the Highways: Would you please contact your friends in our illustrious Arkansas Department of Transportation and ask them why they would spend millions of dollars to fix up U.S. 70 between Benton and Hot Springs and then close the rest area? Scads of people, many of them tourists, pass that way each day and, like myself, would like the opportunity for a bathroom stop or to enjoy a picnic. -- Murfreesboro
Dear Murf: We did Crater of Diamonds State Park this summer with a couple of grandkids. None of us lasted long in the sun, but now we can say we dug for diamonds. Came up short. The Fabulous Babe will have to get her bling some other way.
David Nilles of ArDot said the rest stop was closed several years ago because it had exceeded its service life and was in poor condition. (Same here, but the newspaper keeps us on, bless its heart.) Neither did it meet requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Neither was it used much, and now there are several gas stations along the way.
The property will continue to have a use, he said. The building will be torn down and permanent salt storage will be put there.
Please frown not on salt storage. Comes the winter.
Note: People at ArDot will be happy to know they're illustrious.
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Vanity plate on a Corvette parked at the Stone County Courthouse: XONR8.
Dear Mahatma: Call me nit picking, but I always like to move into the left lane whenever I'm approaching traffic entering from an entrance ramp. Seems easier and safer for both of us than having to merge. I know traffic on the interstate has the right-of-way, but not all drivers seem to observe that little detail. Also, isn't it the law to move into the left lane when a police car or other official vehicle is on the right-hand shoulder? Maybe both examples could technically be called passing? -- Entrance Ramp Chicken
Dear Chick: Indeed it's the law in Arkansas to move over when safe when a police car or other official vehicle is on the right-hand shoulder. Thanks for the reminder.
As for moving left when traffic enters an on-ramp, you reference Arkansas Code Annotated 27-51-301, which in its updated form tells us that use of the left lane of a multilane highway is for only four actions: Overtaking or passing; when all other lanes are closed to traffic; when all other lanes are in disrepair or not driveable; or when exiting to the left.
With all respect to the law, moving left to avoid entering traffic strikes us as reasonable. Also safety conscious.
Other opinions welcome.
Nit-picking, by the way, comes from the act of plucking nits -- the eggs of head lice -- from the hair. Probably the hair of some poor elementary school kid who put on the wrong hat.
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Vanity plate seen in the Heights: NETFLIX. Said our plate spotter: "Really."
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