SPRINGDALE — Carleen Kelley of Springdale wonders if her city can do a little better when it comes to timing the traffic signal at U.S. 71 Business and Don Tyson Parkway.
The Guru this week gets her answer (she might not like it), and then he saddles up to deal with a “bucking bronco” in Rogers.
Question: “I’m a substitute teacher and when I have a job to go to, most of the time it’s taking me east on Don Tyson Parkway,” Kelley writes. “If I don’t speed up to make the light at Don Tyson and 71B, I get stuck for (and I’ve timed it) at least two minutes. This is at 7:30 a.m., and I have a long line of cars behind me, probably cursing at the same time as I.
“That light is still green for U.S. 71B long after the cars are just trickling along, while we’re stuck behind the red on Don Tyson. Can someone please check it out so that it doesn’t last so long?”
Answer: Two-minute waits do occur for drivers going east on Don Tyson Parkway, said Springdale signalization supervisor Dub Janczys.
On Monday, there were four morning times where waits for drivers going east exceeded 130 seconds (at 7:02 a.m., 8:25 a.m., 8:44 a.m. and 9:08 a.m.)
Janczys has communicated with Rhythm Engineering, the Kansas City, Mo., company that designed the automated traffic-control system to coordinate eight signals on U.S. 71B, which in Springdale is also Thompson Street.
In a world where majority rules (57 percent of the drivers at Don Tyson Parkway were folks on 71B who went straight through the intersection; 11 percent went straight going east), the majority should get more time. Still, Janczys plans to keep tinkering to see if the city can help eastbound drivers without delaying traffic from other directions.
Q: “How come the city of Rogers has destroyed all of their intersections with rub-board bricks?” writes Ken Dover of Rogers. “The intersections used to be smooth, but now it’s like riding a bucking bronco.
Must have cost a bunch of taxpayer dollars to do all that improvement.”
A: The city last year spent $1.1 million to revamp eight downtown intersections with cobblestone bricks, put in landscaping and create ramp sidewalks to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
It’s gotten mixed reviews, said City Planner Derrel Smith.
“I’ve heard the bricks are rough to cross, but I’ve had just as many people say they like the positive of bringing life back to downtown,” he said.
More people are walking downtown these days than before the improvements, said Kerry Jensen, director of Main Street Rogers.
“We don’t need people driving 35 or 40 mph downtown,” Jensen said. “It may jar people in the car and let them know they are in a historic downtown area.”
It’s bumpier than an asphalt street, but it’s no “bucking bronco.” A coworker described it as being like crossing lots of cattle grates, and it’s not bad at 20 mph.
Robert J. Smith, aka The Guru, writes on traffic issues in Northwest Arkansas on Fridays. He can be reached at nwaonline.com/guru or [email protected].
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7 on 02/25/2011