Arkansas Blog

You wonder why the largest city in the U.S., NYC, is not on the list. Oh, yea, something about mass transportation.

Yeah, mass transport is the solution. Sure, it would be ridiculously expensive and population density would be a minor issue.

It's remarkable that the solution to a problem caused by liberals is a ridiculously expensive government program.

Problem caused by liberals, you might ask...? I find it remarkable that Max took the time post this without mentioning his vociferous opposition to any attempt to alleviate the congestion, such as increasing lanes at the 430/630 intersection and any other attempt.

At the same time y'all go out of your way to make it more expensive to live in town, as in the recent case where y'all were so ready to condemn development IN town. Of course, you have super swell reasons not to develop property in town. Even if it would replace a perceived eye sore like the underused Easter Seals property...

Pearls before swine. Eat up.

Yes, adding one more pair of lanes has been the absolute magic solution in LA, Dallas, Houston, Miami, NYC, Phoenix...I could go on and on. And the widening to Benton and to Jacksonville...dang, we must have widened them in the wrong direction--Let's get Anon to show us how more concrete=peace love happiness and the total absence of congestion and road rage.

Losing a few more major employers WILLl take the load off the freeways, however

You can only add so many lanes. If downtown is a major commuting destination then eventually everyone has to get off the interstate. That's where the bottle neck occurs. Traffic trying to merge onto an already congested interstate causes a bottle neck. You can't engineer your way out of it with more lanes. The problem becomes increasingly pronounced the closer you get to the metro center.

A light rail system should have been built along I-630 clear out to Chenal. Residents there could park at Chenal and ride into the metro center from there. Another light rail should be engineered from Mayflower. Park in Mayflower and ride the rail into the metro center.

The excuses of population density is being misused. That excuse is more an issue for commuters that live way out in say Scott and commute to LR. Few people come from Scott directly to LR and that's where a light rail from Scott would not be well served.

But eventually the small communities of low density people begin to converge on the interstates and the bottlenecks build.

If the ARTHD would make an effort to study and predict where these choke points are and build mass transit options to those points then that would give those small communities the option to park and ride from these choke points. Mass transit routes should be laid out in the same manner.

Those characterizng Mass transit as being not an option for Central AR because of low population density are not thinking of properly designed Mass Transit options in the correct sense which underscores their ignorance of it.

But in a practical sense, Central AR does not have a traffic congestion problem really. Case in point. Every year the Bicycle Advocacy of Central Arkansas holds a commuter challenge from WLR to Down LR. A car and bicycle start in WLR at about 7:40 AM on a weekday. The bicycle and car arrive in the River market at about the same time +/- 2 minutes.

You can look at it in one of two ways. 1) The traffic is not that congested in central AR because a bicycle is still able to make the trip in the same time or 2) a bicycle is a much more enjoyable way to get to the metro center than riding in slow moving traffic.

"Yes, adding one more pair of lanes has been the absolute magic solution in LA, Dallas, Houston, Miami, NYC, Phoenix...I could go on and on. And the widening to Benton and to Jacksonville...dang, we must have widened them in the wrong direction--Let's get Anon to show us how more concrete=peace love happiness and the total absence of congestion and road rage.

Losing a few more major employers WILLl take the load off the freeways, however"

If adding a lane won't help alleviate the problem, then nothing will. This is just like claiming that pumping more oil won't lower the price. If that's the case, why not remove some lanes? If adding one won't help, then taking one away won't hurt, right?

Brilliant.

"You can only add so many lanes. If downtown is a major commuting destination then eventually everyone has to get off the interstate. That's where the bottle neck occurs. Traffic trying to merge onto an already congested interstate causes a bottle neck. You can't engineer your way out of it with more lanes. The problem becomes increasingly pronounced the closer you get to the metro center."

If adding a lane doesn't help, why don't we have two lane roads? Think of how much money we could've saved... And we could've spent that extra money on the children.

on, I love to bike, but do question riding a bike to a job downtown. Do you do that? If yes, do have a place to shower before going to your desk? If not, I'd bet you're the talk of the hull dang place.

Next question: Have you ridden the new trail at Cane Creek State Park near Star City? Supposedly it's for beginners, but I hear it's tough as nails for anybody.

Ron, the post above is addressed to you. Don't know what happened to the R. Satan at work, I guess.

We used to have two lane roads but we were made to believe at the time adding more was the only way to develop and transportation infrastructure. That mentality continued for 50 years.

Actually, I think taking a lane away here and there making it a bikeway would not be a bad idea. Road diet if you will. We've gotten into a vicious cycle of adding more roads and lanes thinking that will make it all better. Just one more. But like our addiction to oil, our addiction to a car only infrastructure of more and more lanes of traffic has been going on for 1/2 a century. Now, we can't build enough roads fast enough to keep up with the demand let alone keep them in good repair. Like a bad drug we know no other way and we are so far deep into it the withdrawl pains would be tremendous.

A car only infrastructure was tried for 50 years and that plan has failed miserably.

To suggest you ride a bicycle into town and ask where the showers are is in that example an issue of employers not providing showers. Some employers are better at providing showers than others. But you have to think how it can be done vs how it can't Those who do that will excel. is there a fitness center within a mile of work? Go there and shower. Some hotels will allow you to use a vacated room that has not been cleaned yet. Or, how about take the bicycle on the bus to work then cycle home? Citizens should lobby that their community centers have public showers.

Maybe you can cycle to or from work twice a week. Even at that rate you could save 1500 miles in gas costs. How about motor the bicycle to work part way and park it before the traffic jams riding the bicycle in the rest of the way.

Cycling somewhere is not an all or nothing thing. Too many think I have to use one or the other. Not use an assortment of options. And remember, I can ride the bicycle while at home to the store at the end of the day.

The DOT tells us 80% of our annual trips are under 5 miles. With that close of a range, at least 20 of those miles each week on a bicycle will have a positive affect on your health and cash savings.

What planet are you on?

Anon June 18 12:43 A,
I guess that's for me.
I'm on the same planet as you but I suspect we see our community with a different scope. Wisely designed transportation infrastructures that support developed and developing communities exist in this country - today.

I'm telling you what Central AR has not done, should have done and now won't do even in the face of a failing transporation system that lacks enough diversity to be sustainable, air quality standards that border on the non-attainment level each summer and an over weight society that could benefit from having the option of a more active transporation system.

Hey Anon... while you're lambasting gubmint programs, WTF do you think the Interstate Highway System is? When it was conceived in the 1950's the US interstate system was the largest public works project in human history. It still is. Look it up.

The original name was the Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways. That's right- that damn liberal Eisenhower kick-started the project. So which is it, do you hate all govenmental infrastructure projects or just the ones that run contrary to a plan conceived over 50 years ago when we thought we had an unlimited supply of petroleum?

Thanks, Ron. I appreciate your reasoned thinking and admire your passion.

"Next question: Have you ridden the new trail at Cane Creek State Park near Star City? Supposedly it's for beginners, but I hear it's tough as nails for anybody."

Forgot to answer this. No I have not. I don't use my bicycle much for pleasure rides. If I can't ride to cycling event I usually don't go. That's all the brown vs green miles debate among cyclists. It not my thing, but hey some cyclists love riding so much they don't think twice about driving 1/2 way across the state to ride an excellent MtB trail. I'd love to ride around Mt Ida sometime. First I need a MtB then I'd have to find a Van pool to go with.

Amanita, can you read?

I am advocating widening interstates...

I surmise that you are suggesting that my opposition to looney ideas like light rail means I am some sort of anarchist. If central AR was densely populated enough, I might be in favor of that.

As for the interstate highway system, I have never suggested that it is not an appropriate government program. There are very few appropriate, constitutional federal programs. That is one.