Widening of LR road in pipeline

Dear Mahatma: Rodney Parham Road from Pleasant Forest Drive to the intersection of Hinson Road and Green Mountain Drive is under construction. I see pipes going in. Are there plans to widen Rodney Parham or at least to repave this part? What’s going on? — Local Resident

Dear Local: Thank you for the Marvin Gaye reference.

We asked Spencer Watson, the city’s new marketing and communications guy, and a new voice for this column.

North Rodney Parham, he said, will be widened and reconstructed from Buff Lane (the first street north of Hinson Road) to Valley Club Circle (just south of Pleasant Forest Drive). North Rodney Parham will be widened to a three-lane section with bike lanes and a sidewalk on each side of the road. The three lanes are travel lanes in each direction, and a turn lane in the middle.

The project, Watson said, will cost about $6 million. Expect completion of all work in about 11 months.

Dear Mahatma: I have to share something. Driving west on Markham Street, the car in front of me had a very old and rusty handicap car plate. I quickly noted that the little expiration tag read 03. How does someone get away with driving with an expired tag for 18 years? I drove one day with an expired tag and was ticketed. — Just Wondering

Dear Wondering: Same here.

Scott Hardin of the Department of Finance and Administration provided information and speculation.

All handicapped plates require annual renewal, he said, adding that more than likely the plate is current and expires in March. The month displays in large numbers and the expiration year runs beside the expiration month.

Those numbers are commonly confused, he said, certainly when a plate is old and weathered. Police know the expiration year that corresponds to the color of the decal and probably use the color more to determine the expiration year since the expiration year printing is much smaller than the expiration month.

In the chance the plate actually did expire in 2003, Hardin said, this would be one lucky dude.

He also said, and this made our eyes bug out, that he personally has never seen a plate more than 10 years past expiration.

Ten years! The mind boggles.

Dear Mahatma: The expected completion date of the Interstate 30 project between Sevier Street in Benton and U.S. 70, according to signage, is November 2022, a mere 15 months from now. It appears the work is less than 50% done. Heck, it will take a week just to pick up all the orange barrels! My educated guess is we’re looking at a much later completion date. What’s the word from ArDOT? — Tired, So Tired

Dear So Tired: Thanks for the “Blazing Saddles” reference. (Lili Von Shtupp.) Could that movie be made today? That’s our deep philosophical question for the day.

Yes, we are told by the Arkansas Department of Transportation, the current completion date is late 2022.