One down and ??? to go. I guess that would best describe the political situation in the good old USA. With the Iowa town caucus behind us, there is sooooo much more to look forward to in the months ahead.
Is it my imagination? Is the presidential competition the most bizarre in recent decades? That's what I thought. With so many wanna-bees on the racetrack, coupled with the quacking by one and name calling by most of the others, there is little breathing room for sanity.
The boob tube know-it-alls have been having their usual field day, ad nauseum, that is bound to continue with additional simplification during the months ahead. If the tubers would just apply a little duct (duck) tape it would be a relief to hear the candidates speak their own piece without interpretations of each other as they (the tubers) say what they think the wanna-bees have said.
Whew. Maybe I oughta erase all of the above since everyone fashions his or her own interpretation, sometimes modified by personal prejudice, to form conclusions that are as varied as perch in the farm pond. Apologies to the perch.
Honestly, I wasn't going to get into politics, but I read the other day that in China this is the Year of the Monkey. I'm not about to pursue the possibilities of that in relation to our made-in-America political pot of stew. I will add as a finale: When one of the candidates repeats that old cliche, "Liar, liar, your pants are on fire ..." it will be time to go to another subject. Which I now do.
How about highways? The Bella Vista/Hiwasse bypass in particular. I bring this up because I have been following news accounts in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette which indicate that possibly, just possibly, the about-20-mile stretch of highway could be completed sometime in the next five (or so) years.
I dug out my copy of the massive "US 71 Benton County Arkansas and McDonald County Missouri Bella Vista to Pineville Draft Environmental Impact Statement" which was released 18 years ago -- on March 13, 1998, to be exact.
I received the copy while I was a member of the Benton County Quorum Court at the time. I had not really looked at it very much during the past few years. Such projects move slow, slower, slowest.
The "study" was a requirement of the federal government. It was begun in July, 1996, by a Kansas City engineering firm. The massive book weighs more than six pounds and contains some 500 pages of maps, surveys, drawings, conjectures, costs, safety factors, ratifications and on and on and on. It contains several dozen aerial maps of the proposed locations for the bypass. Four routes were studied with the far-west, the present route, being selected.
The thoroughness of the study shows why it took two years to complete, which led to final plans being drawn for the route.
As an aside, it was in 1981 when Congress designated the interstate route as a priority highway. So, why did it take 35 years to reach the point where a completion of the highway could be (possibly) predicted and anticipated? That's right, $$$$$$. The old dollar has been the holdup. And it continues to be, considering the addition to six lanes to early parts of the corridor between Fayetteville and Rogers, where such construction is underway.
The first leg of the bypass from Highway 72 east of Hiwasse to Highway 72 near Mt. Pleasant opened a couple of years ago. A second leg from the Mt. Pleasant site to the Highway 43 exit near the Highlands of Bella Vista opened late last year. Under construction is a six-mile stretch of pavement from the north edge of Bentonville to the Highway 72 Hiwasse interchange. It is expected to be completed sometime in the relatively-near future.
The final segment from the 43 exit north to the Missouri state line will not be started until Missouri is able to complete its part of the project. The Show-Me State was ready to complete that leg several years ago but Arkansas lacked the funds. Now, Arkansas will begin its final two-plus mile leg when our neighboring state is ready to begin work. Initially, the bypass will be widening to four-lane dual highway sometime in the future.
That wore me out again. Which brings back something I said about the long-planned interstate from Fayetteville to Alma: "I hope I live long enough to see it completed." I'll repeat that for the bypass project. It will be great when it is completed.
What will be greater is when a grocery store opens here to serve northwest Benton County to the Oklahoma and Missouri state lines.
Dodie Evans is a former owner and longtime editor of the Gravette News Herald. Opinions expressed are those of the author.
Editorial on 02/10/2016