Dear Sir: Why is it so difficult to see to turn left heading south on University Avenue. If there is a car in the opposite turn lane you must wait until it has turned to see. My main difficulty is between 12th Street and Asher. -- Derek
Dear Derek: We like being called sir. Makes us feel important. Mostly we feel average. At best.
We asked Bill Henry, the city's traffic engineering manager. He's important, too. Without traffic engineers, we'd have more road rage than usual.
Mr. Henry tells us all the traffic signals in the mentioned parts have protected left turns as well as permitted left turns. (Protected means green arrow. Permitted is either a green ball or a flashing yellow arrow.)
Furthermore, he says, if a driver can't see to make the turn, he should wait for the green arrow. In cases where there has been an accident problem, the left turns have been made by protected arrow only. As an example, there is the northbound left turn at University Avenue and University Drive.
Dear Mahatma: There's lots of news about highway projects, like the upcoming expansion of Interstate 630 in Little Rock's midtown. What happened to 30 Crossing? -- Orange Conehead
Dear Orange: By I-630, you reference the job that will start later this spring to widen, from six lanes to eight, 2.5 miles of that roadway from South University to the Baptist Medical Center. Price tag: $84.4 million.
Such a project, while admirable, pales in comparison to 30 Crossing, which will improve Interstate 30 in Little Rock from its intersection with Interstate 530 south of downtown to North Little Rock, adding a portion of Interstate 40 in the latter city.
This includes a new bridge over the Arkansas River.
Our information from the Arkansas Department of Transportation is that another public hearing on the project will be held this summer, date to be announced. If the agency is able to finalize the National Environmental Policy Act process this summer, a design-builder will be selected by the end of 2018.
The design-builder won't start construction until the summer of 2019. Construction will go on well into 2023. At which point, we personally would not be surprised to be expired. Disappointed, perhaps, but not surprised.
The budget for 30 Crossing is $631.7 million.
Dear Golf Whiz: Why has the railroad overpass on West 14th Street in North Little Rock been closed? -- Clubhouse Guy
Dear Guy: Sources say that old thing was built in the 1920s.
Nathan Hamilton of the city tells us that Union Pacific Railroad, the Arkansas Department of Transportation and the city's engineers all inspected the bridge and determined it had a "structural issue."
Hamilton says the city has requested proposals for repairs "and will make a decision regarding the future of the bridge based on time, cost of repairs, future cost of maintenance, and impact to traffic patterns."
Vanity plate seen on a Honda Fit: PRFCTFT.
Metro on 04/07/2018