By GARRICK FELDMAN
Leader editor-in-chief
Are you tired of getting stuck in traffic jams that no one is working to eliminate?
Or driving down Main Street, where the traffic lights are uncoordinated, and you have to wait at red lights when there’s no traffic around you?
Metroplan, which helps central Ar-kansas communities with their long-range transportation needs, wants to find answers to the area’s traffic woes.
“We don’t want to rely just on the experts,” Jim McKenzie, Metroplan’s executive director in Little Rock, said Thursday. “The people who use the system know where the problems are.”
In hopes of alleviating congestion problems and poor commutes, Metroplan will soon launch Operation Bottleneck, inviting area residents to voice their opinions on how to improve traffic in their communities.
Public hearings will be held in every central Arkansas county in September, he said.
Suggestions from the public could include supporting major traffic projects, such as widening Hwy. 67/167 from Little Rock to Cabot or completing the North Belt Freeway (a project that has awaited funding since 1947), although funds, estimated to be $200 million, won’t be available for many years, McKenzie said.
But in the meantime, McKenzie wants to hear from the public about small projects that won’t cost much, whether it’s getting out of a driveway to shave a few minutes off a trip, or having enough sidewalks to encourage people to walk and ride bikes.
The aim is to reduce congestion and help people get around better, which will save energy and reduce pollution, he said.
McKenzie said drivers should also consider using public transportation.
Toward that end, Metroplan will run surveys in area newspapers in addition to the public meetings.
Metroplan will hold “a walkable community” seminar in Cabot to en-courage more sidewalks. In addition, Metroplan is also promoting a regional bicycle plan.
These projects will cost money, but federal funds are drying up, he said. The federal highway trust fund, which is supported by gasoline taxes, is also falling. People are driving less— there’s been an 8 percent drop from a year ago, McKenzie said — which means less revenue since taxes are not collected as a percentage of the cost of gasoline but at a flat rate. Arkansas levies 40.2 cents on each gallon sold, regardless of the price of gasoline.
The state will also charge a higher tax on natural gas, which could make up the loss from gasoline usage if motorists cut back on their driving, which they will keep doing if the cost of gasoline goes to $4 a gallon or more
