So here’s the latest childish bullying from the state Highway and Transportation Department: It says now that, if it doesn’t get its way, it is going to pick up not only its ball, but every danged ballfield in several counties, and go home.
It says it must proceed apace to destroy the Broadway Bridge and build anew, as it plans, no matter the objections and different idea of the uppity mayors of the connected towns, or, otherwise, all federal money for all road work for a year in all of Central Arkansas would be ended, or at least at severe risk.
Here’s the Highway Commission’s spiel: It has to submit periodic plans for spending to the Federal Highway Administration. It has submitted its plan for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, and destroying the Broadway Bridge and buiding anew is on it. So now, if it doesn’t blow up the Broadway Bridge and build anew, the Federal Highway Administration could well say, “OK, Arkansas, y’all can’t build nothin’.”
Oh, dear.
It might not be quite so dire, though.
Because, you see, a highway official also acknowledged that the annual plan could be amended, though time is of the essence with August bearing down on September which would then bear down on Octobe.r
I wish to offer a possible solution:
Rather than fret, or posture, or make like Chicken Little, the Highway Commission might draft today a letter to the federal people people making a small amendment to that plan for the next fiscal year.
I’ll propose a draft:
“Dear Federal Highway People:
We’ve got a couple of smart-aleck mayors down here who don’t want that new Broadway Bridge we put on our approved plan. We don’t know what to do with them.We’ve never had any push-back before. I guess what we need to ask is whether you will let us amend our project list for the next year to take that bridge off. We’d sure appreciate it. We’ll work on these lame-brains between now and next year. Thanks.”
I personally don’t see the issue…the Broadway is an ugly old iron bridge. Whether you refresh it or tear it down, it needs to be able to carry business traffic between the cities. Pandering to a few old nostalgic people without any sense of the aesthetic doesn’t really benefit the majority; Arkansas has way too many ties to the bad old days as it is, so don’t let this be something else keeping us out of the current century. Build a new bridge, build it correctly, and if you want, put a commemorative plaque on it.
john reinhart
8 Aug 12 at 2:30 pm
John, the Broadway Bridge is NOT “an ugly old iron bridge”. For one, it’s mostly concrete; the only metal part (steel, which isn’t “iron” even though it contains iron) is the single above-road arch, which replaced the original two main spans (both below-road concrete arches, like the other river spans) in the 1970′s to provide sufficient clearance for the McClellan-Kerr navigation channel. Though the replacement span was designed to blend in with the original 1923 bridge, it’s now being used as an excuse to wrongfully deny “historic bridge” status to even the 1923 portion (which otherwise CLEARLY qualifies).
The big problem is AHTD threw replacing the bridge onto its in-house plans several years ago, but then waited TOO LONG to notify the local authorities (LR, NLR, Pulaski County). Now that local opposition has surfaced, AHTD is too busy trying to justify its past actions to even consider the opponents’ valid concerns–much like the Corps of Engineers in the 1970′s kept pushing long-standing proposals to dam or channelize rivers in the face of growing public opposition, which inspired George Fisher’s “Keep Busy” caricatures that now seem to apply to AHTD instead of the Corps!
RBBrittain
8 Aug 12 at 3:20 pm
More specifically, John Reinhart (I was addressing you, not Mr. Brummett), NOT everyone thinks the Broadway Bridge is “ugly”. Unlike today’s cookie-cutter plate-girder bridges (though they’re good at what they do), the Broadway Bridge at least has character; if you tear it down it’s gone FOREVER.
It should be noted that the I-30 river bridge is ALSO scheduled for future replacement under the proposed 10-year sales tax for highways on the November ballot. Though the current I-30 bridge won’t be missed (not only does it NOT have the Broadway’s character, but its congestion problems are MORE obvious to motorists) and the sales tax is believed dead anyway, clearly AHTD is NOT helping any with its stubbornness on the Broadway; in fact, if voters believe AHTD will close BOTH bridges at the same time it will likely backfire. (Though it may SEEM preposterous, something like that DID happen in the 1970′s when for a short time the I-30 bridge was the ONLY way to drive from NLR to LR without going thru Conway or Pine Bluff!)
RBBrittain
8 Aug 12 at 3:53 pm
It is a no-brainer that shutting down the Broadway Bridge and building a new bridge will create a traffic snarl like nobody’s business in downtown Little Rock and North Little Rock. The cars downtown are lined up bumper to bumper for blocks every morning and afternoon as folks try to get to and from work. Try running all that traffic down to the Rivermarket and over the Main Street Bridge or I-30 Bridge and you’ll think this is Dallas or Chicago or Washington DC. It won’t work. What the mayors propose is reasonable and the Highway Dept needs to get its stuff together. There is going to have to be another bridge built before Broadway is closed. It needs to start now.
D Williams
8 Aug 12 at 5:10 pm