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Metroplan officials want residents’ traffic input |
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Wednesday, 10 September 2008 |
Operation Bottleneck launched to aid problems
Have a traffic concern? Tell Metroplan.
The regional transportation planning agency for Central Arkansas on Tuesday officially launched Operation Bottleneck. The campaign is designed to gather input from residents in Saline County and the region about their traffic and transportation concerns.
Conway Mayor Tab Townsell, president of the Metroplan Board of Directors, said the group wants to “get the word out quickly. This is a comprehensive effort to reach out to citizens and identify safety issues. ... This is not just about the Interstate, but it’s also about neighborhoods.”
Jim McKenzie, director of Metroplan, said the campaign was established because traffic congestion costs time, money and also takes a toll on the environment. It costs businesses and families at the pump with high gas prices, and it costs the public health by putting additional pollution into the air, he said.
From now until Tuesday, Sept. 30, there are three ways residents can give Metroplan their thoughts. People may complete an Internet-based questionnaire by visiting www.metroplan.org and clicking the Operation Bottleneck icon. They may fill out and mail in a short printed questionnaire in the Sunday metro edition of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Or, residents may attend one of several town hall meetings scheduled throughout Central Ark-ansas.
In Saline County, two meetings will be held. The first is scheduled Tuesday at Benton Municipal Complex, 114 S. East St. The second is scheduled Thursday, Sept. 18, at the new fire station at 312 Roya Lane in Bryant. Both meetings will be held from 5 to 7 p.m.
McKenzie noted that Metroplan not only wants to know where and when traffic problems occur, but Metroplan also wants to know what residents think the planning group should do about the traffic issues.
Safety is a motivating factor in Operation Bottleneck, he said, pointing to statistics.
“There are 19,000 car crashes in Arkansas every year,” he said, “and 110 are fatal and 16,000 result in injury.” In addition, he said, there are 190 pedestrian and bicycle injuries each year.
McKenzie said that after the data has been gathered, Metroplan wants to report its findings by the end of the year.
“Seeing tangible results will depend on the answers we receive,” he said, noting that Operation Bottleneck is just one way Metroplan is using to update their long-range transportation plans. “We have to upgrade [that plan] every five years.”
The officials on hand Tuesday noted that the federal highway trust fund has run out of money and it’s unclear when Congress will replenish the funds. This has made funding for larger projects hard to come by, McKenzie said. “But there are things we can do to address smaller problems,” he said.
One example of a smaller problem is coordinating traffic signals on Military Road in Benton. Another is building sidewalks in neighborhoods, which Benton has been doing.
Local Metroplan representatives include Saline County Judge Lanny Fite; mayors Larance Davis of Shannon Hills, Rick Holland of Benton, Shirley Johnson of Alexander and Jeff Arey of Haskell; and Kenneth Anderson of Bauxite. Bryant Mayor Larry Mitchell serves as treasurer on the Metroplan board.
Additional information about Operation Bottleneck is available by calling 372-3300 or e-mailing
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