LITTLE ROCK — THE DREAM of a national landmark of a bridge in the middle of Arkansas, à la St. Louis’ Gateway Arch, was laid to rest last Thursday night by the Pulaski County Quorum Court, The Hon. Buddy Villines presiding.
The dear departed passed away after a long and debilitating illness. Bit by bit, the vision faded despite all efforts at resuscitation, a victim of the wasting illness called lack of imagination, aggravated by a bureaucratic inertia and, finally, a failure of will. And where there’s no will, there’s no way.
If there are any further ceremonies, they’ll be graveside ones with only a few mourners in attendance. Honorary pallbearers include all who were loyal friends to the end. It won’t be the first time a shining dream born in hope had to be laid to rest. This one fell victim, like so many dreams, not so much to direct opposition as widespread apathy, which can be epidemic in hard times.
Some of us will again mourn the death of the dream, but its doom was sealed some time ago. These were but the last rites, and survivors can take some comfort in the final, expanded shape of the bridge, which will be saved from utter mediocrity, if just barely, by a double-arched (basket) design.
A useful addition or two has also been made, too, like a wider lane for bicycles. It’s a small victory for safety-but no victory for safety is small if you’re the one riding the bike or a driver needing to get past.
The additional features will cost additional money-$20 million-but the investment is worth it to turn what’s left of the dream into a serviceable bridge with an additional arch and safety feature or two.
No one, including a good man and persistent builder like Buddy Villines, can turn this sow’s ear into a silk purse, which is why he shouldn’t try, but settle for a practical compromise without trying to pass it off as some kind of esthetic triumph.
Let it be noted that not all the members of the quorum court who voted for the bridge’s new double-arch design were sold on the county judge’s plan to cosmeticize the remains of the dream by painting it red-white-and-blue. As if to add bad taste to a mediocre design. (What, no John Philip Sousa march playing at all hours of the day and night to accompany the cacophony of traffic?)
The dream’s anticlimactic end-maybe winding-down would be a better term for it-should not be allowed to pass without paying our compliments to Judge Villines, a hard-pressed public servant who did his best to resist all that pressure from the state’s Highway Department, where dreams go to die. It’s full of the kind of gradgrinds whose idea of grace and beauty begins and, more often, ends with a ledger book.
Let it be noted that the county judge does have a work of vision and grace to his considerable credit, the sweeping Big Dam Bridge, a boon to bikers and hikers and just see-ers who visit it from all over the state and beyond. And for good reason.
As for our state highway planners, they’re so good at meeting a deadline, everything else-like the quality of what they meet it with-may be a secondary consideration, if it’s any consideration at all.
If the public must settle for this less ambitious bridge, let’s keep it as simple and graceful as possible-rather than try to cover lowered expectations with a show of patriotism.
Despite the sales job Buddy Villines has done for his showy idea, we are not amused, let alone inspired. Good try, Judge, but stop trying so hard. Let the dream die in peace instead of with a brass band in attendance and the national colors splashed on its drab successor.
Ostentation is no consolation for a great opportunity lost. It only makes the loss worse by calling attention to it. It was Dr. Johnson who said patriotism was the last refuge of a scoundrel; let’s not make it the first refuge of bridgebuilders without real vision.
Editorial, Pages 16 on 02/07/2013