Arkansas Blog

Fine Max, you are halfway home. Address the schools and the combat zone and you might have a city to work with. Part of the way to do that starts with development out west with zoning and development cost issues. It is all one big package. If you don't understand how the bits and pieces effect each other you will never get anywhere.

But, of course the blue noses in charge will never address those issues. Downtown development is all about million dollar condos, not people interested in city development or mass transit.

I am torn on this one. Sometimes I feel like that road is the bane of my life. For some reason, folks can just not figure out that complicated merge procedure from 430 to 630, and then coming home in the afternoon .....enough to drive you crazy.

I would be more than willing to take mass transit in to work everyday and especially during a night out at the River Market. I know you have to start somewhere, but one east - west route paralleling 630 will not cut it. They need to give some serious thought to a system that will actually entice usage. Who wants to ride a train and then face a 20-30 minute walk to get to work?

"No freeway expansion ever solved a traffic problem. It only creates newer and bigger ones (and experts have shown that you never recoup the time lost to the hassles of road construction)."

We don't have this problem over here on Highway 71. We are real proud of our 1935 bridges we navigate going south or north. What is a freeway?

Why should we help create a road for people to get out of town quickly?

The way to reduce polution is to burn less petroleum.

What about I-30/I-40 in NLR for the Bass Pro Shop?

"They" will tack on just enough to get by then within 2 years "they" will scream we need new overpasses and lanes so the State pays hundreds of millions for what the develpopers should have been required to fund.

Why would one expect the Highway Department to get it right this time. They have screwed up from the beginning on 430, 630 and Shackelford. Poorly designed, poorly redesigned x3, and now, poorly expanded.
Metroplan had a light rail system in its plans from the early 70's. Take the middle of 630 and run a light rail down it. Run another one just in from the river in the northwest to downtown. The city simultaneously establishes a high use tax for autos to enter the central core. Eminent domain all the surface parking lots for private construction of moderate to low income housing, small office, entertainment, hightech, artsy fartsy places. Start small, from the Clinton Library on the east, 630 on the south, Chester on the west and the river on the north. Give it 20 years and let's see what happens.
Scrap the new "highway" which is really a low way and build attractive public transit. Join the 21st century for god sake.

I could not disagree with you more about the I-630 lane expansion in LR, Arkansas Blog. You sound like the naysayers who for years delayed adding the recently opened lanes on I-30 between LR and Benton. No telling how many accidents have been prevented and lives saved by the new lanes.

If Arkansas is "behind the curve" on freeway expansion, so is Arizona, Texas, Georgia and many other states. In Texas, they're talking about expanding I-10 between Houston and Katy to 10 lanes in each direction. In Arizona, the plans are to expand the freeway between Phoenix and Glendale to 12 lanes in both directions. We are what we are, an affluent, highly mobile society that ain't about to climb down out of them SUVs.

Any time I get the itch to trade my creaky, cranky old Hillcrest domicile for a shiny new home out west, all I have to do is take a spin on the Wilbur Mills after 4 p.m. on a weekday to cure me.

I remain thankful to live within a short walk to the grocery store, the video store, the liquor store, the vet and numerous good eating and drinking establishments, not to mention two wonderful parks and plentiful sidewalks that lead to encounters with interesting people, sights and things each time I venture out.

For one more year, the youngest son can still walk the eight blocks to school. I and the Missus are only minutes from work. Our neighbors and their chilluns are friendly and we actually chat with them regularly.

Were the Max Utopian Core Living Plan to gain more disciples, houses in neighborhoods like mine will only rise in value and demand, while the sterile subdivisions in remote lands fall into disfavor and abandonment, gas-starved SUVs rusting in their expansive driveways.

Oh well, that's one daydream for the morning.

A bunch of urban infill needs to be done before a light rail system can be considered. Many parts of downtown are abandoned/ parking lots.

Where would you put a system downtown? You'd basically need a subway there.

After living in St. Louis the past school year, I'm a bit skeptical on how light rail would fare here. The Metrolink there is mediumly-used, and it passes all the major destination of St. Louis (the stadiums, arch, downtown area, mall, downtown Clayton [which has a skyline similar in size to Little Rock's], etc). Sometimes it's pretty sparse; there are usually empty seats.

How would that fare in a metro a fifth the size of St. Louis and with fewer "major" destinations--especially in an region with a completely different mentality (truck/SUV driving, independent-minded southerners) ?

That said, I'm optimistic. A light rail would need a few years to "grow" on people in this area and slowly change their mentalities.

It should never be built with profits, or even breaking even, in mind.

What makes light rail any different that CAT? At least CAT can go anywhere.

No, I don't worry about it turning a profit.

warning! ranting ahead!

As far as redoing the 430-630 interchange, that's fine with me, it handles a lot of traffic and is probably overdue for a face lift. There's plenty of room to expand it, although it will be a nightmare for commuters for a few years during construction.

Widening 630? Ignorant. It seems to me that our city leaders are more focused on creating a bigger city rather than a better one. We (as city) still have the mindset that sprawl and suburbia are still a good thing because it means more people are moving in. Why do we want to be the next major southern city like Dallas or Atlanta with there enormous road and interstate infrastructure. Even these cities have begun to realize that maybe sprawl isn't all its cracked up to be and mass transit actually does work. I know the DART in Dallas, doubled its expected use its first year. It is a big investment but so is widening an interstate through the middle of a city!

Interstate 30 definitely is a lot easier to maneuver through coming and going to Little Rock from the Benton/Bryant area, but interstate 30 is about the only way to get to Little Rock from those areas, other than highway 5 and a handful of county roads. In Little Rock, however, we have alternative roads. Asher, 12thst, 630, Markham and Cantrell, along with a lot of other secondary roads all travel east/west and help relieve traffic. Do we really want an interstate 30 running through the middle of our city.??

I agree we probably need more infrastructure and infill to make a rail line work in Little Rock, (besides overpriced condo buildings) but putting a rail line in actually causes that to happen. I'm not a big fan of the trolley in Little Rock, mostly because it's more of a tourism tool that an actual mass transit system, but look at how it helped the rivermarket area and Argenta. Everyone wants to be on a mass transit line because it guarantees people will come by.

It will always be a challenge in America to ask people to rely on mass transit and less on individual transportation (me included, honestly) and it is a huge investment, but at least studying the idea and making long term goals would help push our city in the right direction.

Expanding the roads never improves them, nor shorten the commute. It often makes it worse. Study after study has demonstrated that, but we still throw good money after bad, hoping that this time reality won't apply to us.

A good semi-example is Sam Peck and Cantrell. Before the stoplight, traffic flowed smoothly. A few people waited and waited to make a left onto Cantrell, but that demonstrated foolishness more than anything. Now that there's a stoplight, traffic sometimes backs up for a quarter mile, at least. Rather than smooth the flow, the stoplight made that route seem more attractive, increased the number of people using it, and created gridlock.

We already have a bus system that goes more places than light rail ever could.

The problem is that it's not chic to ride.

Let's face what we have here on the blog: a lot of upper/upper-middle class folks who would probably never regularly ride a light rail system.

Light rail. Great. More empty cars like the $16 million trollies.

The trolley was built for tourism. Thats why niether the cars themselves or their routes are very practical. Dont confuse Light rail mass transit with a tourist ride to boost propety values

"gas creeps over $4 a gallon."

Where have you been?

Thanks again for this reminder that liberals want to control people.

As for your statement that California has learned not to widen freeways, you say that like California has solved its traffic problem, which it hasn't. Maybe we should narrow our freeways.

Good grief.

"It should never be built with profits, or even breaking even, in mind.

Posted by: JD [TypeKey Profile Page] | May 31, 2007 11:06 AM"

You just came up with the solution. Since we shouldn't even look to break even, we can pay people to ride the rail. I'd ride it if you paid me. Heck, I'd ride even when I didn't need to.

What a great solution. It's been staring us in the face this whole time. Don't worry about breaking even!!!!!!!!!!

I-630 is a core urban interestate, not an escape route. It passes three major medical center complexes, downtown, the state capitol, the state's largest shopping area and the densest residential parts of the state. It's a vital route.

The I-630/430 interchange was flawed from the start, mostly because west LR was sparsely populated and nobody saw that interchange being virtually the city's population center. It drastically needs revamping. Ending an interstate with a stoplight is unsafe. The left hand turn needed to get off of I-430 from the North to get to Financial Centre is another collision hotspot.

People always claim widening freeways doesn't lessen traffic, which is a half-truth. First, that doesn't apply to interchanges. Secondly, traffic numbers DO go up after widening. Why? Because more people that were using arterials like Cantrell, Kanis, and Markham to cross town are now using freeways like I-630. The benefit to residents in the older parts of LR is obvious, fewer cars on the East-West arterials. Cantrell is a nightmare right now and only getting worse as Hwy 10 and Chenal grow. Not providing alternate routes isn't the answer.

I live in Dallas temporarily and the comparison to DART is ludicrous. Dallas and Collin Counties, the core of DART, have a population greater than that of all of Arkansas. We don't have the tax base for that.

Light rail is such a pseudoprogressive catchphrase that it always comes up every time there's a traffic problem. Nobody ever addresses the obstacles. I kind of expected more from the Times.

1) Light rail will not work unless each rail stop connects to a bus system able to get people within a short walk of their homes. CAT funding would have to increased 3-4x for that to occur. People won't walk 5 miles to ride light rail another 5, then get off and walk 2 miles.

2) Federal funding will not be available for light rail in Arkansas. Metros 3 times this size are begging for scraps and being turned down. Most of these have much better existing bus systems.

3) Local funding will be exceedingly difficult. Realistically a DART or MARTA-type of line is going to be a billion(s) dollar project with high recurring annual costs. The other metroplan communities so high on rail in these meettings won't be chipping in. Even county voters would scoff at a LR-only line. Who would pay for this? Do you genuinely think LR voters who have been historically vehemently anti-tax will pay for this? We're probably talking a 2 cent sales tax for years.

4) The entire line is short. It will likely increase commute times 3-4x from West LR to downtown as opposed to driving, particularly if a connecting bus is used. The time between trains will likely be the time needed to drive the length of the line.

BTW, want to know what happened when CA stopped building freeways? The offices all moved to suburban office parks near their employees and downtown office space stopped being built. Despite DART and even with widening, the same has happened in Dallas.

Part of the key to a healthy and vibrant downtown is providing reasonable access to that downtown.

ARK. BLOG: We said transit alernatives, not specifically light rail. I have my doubts about that. The interchange needs work. I'm not sure I-630 needs to be widened.

"ARK. BLOG: We said transit alernatives, not specifically light rail."

Such as???

If not light rail, then what? We already have a bus system. Sounds like you don't have any suggestions. The only alternative I can think of is a bus system, aside from some punitive measure to keep people from driving themselves.

Honestly, though. I drive that same rush hour and alternate routes...Cantrell, Markham, 630... I don't quite understand why making merging easier and expanding lanes won't help alleviate congestion. If that's the case, then removing lanes shouldn't hurt anything. Maybe it would help, by your "logic".

This whole post was an ill conceived rant. I'm still waiting for you to tell me where you've been buying gas that's creeping "over $4 a gallon."

$4 dollars a gallon?! That will never happen!!.... Wow, just had deja vu there. I heard that gas is going to start declining in price back down below a dollar a gallon! Because everyone knows that natural resources that aren't renewable, imported from areas with immense violence and that are in high demand, all eventually go down in price, not up.

Anyone who hasn't come to the realization that gas prices will always continue to rise is going to have a rude awakening.

sarcasm isn't your strong suit, fiddler.

As for that odd attempt to defend an obviously inaccurate statement, okay... Not sure why you'd waste your time. Gas hasn't crept past $4.00/gallon, or near $4.00. I paid $3.00/gallon today, so I'm not sure why you're so eager to act like it actually is $4.00.

Very strange.