U.S. 67/167 road work getting old

Dear Mahatma: Got a call from an Arkansas State University teacher who lives in Little Rock and commutes to Jonesboro. (Insert several exclamation points.) She’s fed up with the construction work through Jacksonville that’s been going on for years. I never see anybody working, and the cops don’t patrol the area. She is scared to drive slow through there because people tailgate. How much longer? — Old (and growing older) Friend.

Dear Old Friend: The Mahatma recently drove through Jacksonville and saw workers. But on other occasions, not.

Your point is well-taken. It’s been reported previously in this space that some elements of the project to widen U.S. 67/167 through Jacksonville were changed. Redesigned, essentially. And while the redesign was in progress, the contractor was unable to do any work.

That was the story from the Arkansas Department of Transportation.

Let’s review.

The aim of this project is to rebuild and widen 1.3 miles of U.S. 67/167 at Redmond Road and Main Street, a job costing $41.9 million. Word on the street is that the project will be done in July or August. We recommend the cutting of ribbons and the popping of champagne.

Just north of this job is another. It’s the rebuilding of 4.6 miles of the highway from Vandenberg Boulevard in Jacksonville to Arkansas 5 near Cabot. Cost is $79.3 million. Completion is expected at the end of this year. There’s more.

A third project on the highway is at Arkansas 38 north of Cabot. The purpose of the work is to construct an interchange at a cost of $25.5 million, with completion expected late this year.

These things can be funny. Not long ago The Mahatma was speaking to a civic club in Jacksonville. He mentioned that the Redmond Road-Main Street project was a booger. It is? Turns out most of the club members not only lived but worked in Jacksonville, and hardly ever went through the work zone toward North Little Rock. Go figure.

Dear Mahatma: How does one walk across Cantrell Road and remain in one piece? Astonishingly, there’s no pedestrian signal on the northeast corner of Cantrell and University, the scene of many wrecks. And the pedestrian light at the northwest corner of Cantrell and Tyler is on the fritz, and is only four seconds long when it works. — Jean

Dear Jean: This is the week for old friends and bookends.

We presented this to Bill Henry, Little Rock’s chief of traffic engineering.

He tells us there aren’t pedestrian signals for Cantrell at University because there is no place for pedestrians to walk other than in the street. Hopefully intersection improvements will one day address that matter.

Regarding Cantrell and Tyler, Henry said the timing would be verified. (Jean reports a technician promptly at the scene.) The crossing time, Henry said, is based on the distance curb to curb at a pedestrian speed of 3.5 feet per second.

Vanity plate: IGTSOUL.