Warning, Our Roads Destroy Your Vehicle Submitted by: Jim Ford - 08/26/03 12:04 pm - Updated 08/26/03 12:16 pm

Lots of people joke about Arkansas for various reasons.... Bill Clinton, inbreeding, rednecks, eeliturasy, etc. And okay, the state deserves most of it (anyone who knows my friend Deeeeee Davis will understand -- jk!). I've lived here for over 5 years and think it's actually a pretty good state. So what's my one beef with Arkansas? The roads. Let's start off by noting I'm a commuter. I have to drive 32.4 miles everday on town and city roads, plus mostly interstate. So my opinion may be a little biased. The State of Arkansas passed a highways spending bill several years ago to repave many roads, widen others, build better bridges, etc. It's a HUGE undertaking. One would think they would kind of stagger the projects around. But no, through the course of moonshine fumes and inbreeding, they decided to muck up everything at once. For the last 4 years I've had to endure a 4-laning project by my house that includes all ancillary roads, drainage, traffic lights, etc. And it's finally nearing completion. So what am I bitching about? The zillion miles of interstate construction going on. Click on the map (left) and you'll see my drive from Conway to Little Rock is littered with major construction. My brand new 2003 Chevy Silverado already has 7 windshield rock chips, paint damage on the hood, and barrel scrapes down the passenger side. My truck before it had alignment problems along with rock chips. What are they thinking? I'll be so glad when they finish this stuff up. No telling how long it will take. Of course, they're now blocking off part of my main route within LR to get to work due to a new commuter train project that just started. It's official, my entire 32.4 mile trip each way is under construction. My normal 25 - 30 minute trip can now take 90 minutes. Arrghh! Sure, we'll have good roads in a couple more years, after I go through another 2 vehicles! Ha ha. Oh well, even before the construction started, we still had better roads than Louisiana. Okay, the other really important beef I have against Arkansas is that you normally have to drive 20 - 30 miles to get a beer as half the counties are totally dry. Hey, a guy has to have his priorities! What happened to the good ol' days of bicycling to the Keg Package in Grambling to buy beer when we were 15 or 16?

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Jim Ford - 08/28/03 1:21 pm

Oh happy days. Even more construction. Now the main road we all take to avoid local interstate and other in-town construction, Harkrider, is going under the scalpel. Cabin.net story. It's only the main north/south drag. No big deal, huh?

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