Dear Mahatma: Just when I thought U.S. 70 in the Cache River Bottoms couldn't get any worse, it has! I feel like I'm on a stagecoach ride in 2021. Please give me some hope that this dangerous portion of U.S. 70 is on schedule to be made at least passable. -- A Concerned Arkansan
Dear Concerned: Looks like your 2022 will move in the right direction.
Informed sources in the Arkansas Department of Transportation tell us there is a project underway to resurface U.S. 70 through the Bottoms in Monroe County.
Improvements will begin at the Prairie County line and go east 10.5 miles to Brinkley.
Asphalt Producers LLC was awarded the contract for $5.45 million. Work should begin soon, and the project should be completed by March.
See, 2002 really is off to a good start.
Dear Mahatma: I use city streets or the access road when not traveling between cities. It's offensive to me for someone to hop on the interstate at one junction and get off at the next one. Thanks for letting me blow off some steam. By the way, I read you each week and get a snerk out of it from time to time.-- Larry
Dear Larry: Feel better? You should feel lots better about the new Interstate 30 bridge. Its design is, um, designed to more easily move the mass quantities of local traffic that pass over the river.
Nothing says a driver can't get on any interstate at any point and get off at any point. The presumably good thing about the new bridge is that in addition of six interstate lanes, it will have two collector-distributor lanes in both directions. Those lanes will move traffic between the downtowns of Little Rock and North Little Rock.
By the way, Larry, the 30 Crossing project is scheduled to be completed sometime in 2025. That has inspired us to engage in healthy habits, so as to live long enough to see the ribbon-cutting.
Dear Mahatma: What exactly are they doing at the Mayflower exit on Interstate 40 in Faulkner County? Among other things, they seem to be preparing to relocate the exit/entry ramps on the eastbound lanes. -- Just Curious
Dear Curious: The Arkansas Department of Transportation tells us this is a new overpass that will span the railroad tracks and Interstate 40 very near the existing overpass.
Interstate 40 entrance and exit ramps will not be relocated, but Arkansas 89 will be realigned. Work to be done in October.
A REMINDER
As eggnog goes with cookies, so does the holiday season comport with the annual drive to restrict drunk drivers from the highways of Arkansas. And everywhere else in America.
The Arkansas State Police reminds drivers that police all across the state will engage in enhanced enforcement through today with the mission of taking drunk drivers off the roads.
Keeping them off is actually a better idea. We've heard that friends don't let friends drive drunk.
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