Metroplan has already received numerous online responses to its request for central Arkansas residents to share traffic congestion and safety issues, and more residents turned out at the McGee Center on Tuesday night to complete surveys.
Last week, Metroplan announced the launching of Operation Bottleneck, a public outreach effort to identify and address issues. Metroplan encourages residents to share their concerns and suggested solutions to the problems. A survey is available by going to www.metroplan.org and clicking on the Operation Bottleneck logo. Data will be collected through the end of September.
Richard Magee of Metroplan said at Tuesday night's drop-in meeting, "We're averaging two to three observations per entry on the web." With about 1,100 respondents as of Tuesday morning, he estimated 2,000 to 3,000 suggestions.
"We're excited about that," he said. "They're coming from all over the metropolitan area. This is our first effort doing a web-based survey. We didn't know what kind of response we would have. We've been really pleased so far. If it continues at the pace it's going, we'll have a lot of work to synthesize."
One participant at Tuesday night's meeting who wished to remain anonymous said every city has traffic congestion, however, "Congestion in this town is worse than Denver, Phoenix, Chicago or any of the towns I've dealt with."
He suggested synchronizing traffic lights would solve congestion problems. Mark Rushing, a public relations consultant for Metroplan, supplied several samples from the online survey.
One said, "Most intersections along Dave Ward Drive in Conway get congested and backed up. The two worst seem to be the intersection of South German Lane/Dave Ward and Donaghey/Dave Ward."
The resident's suggested solution was: "I think a major improvement would be a truly computerized system that would sync all lights on Dave Ward together... that way, in theory, you could get down Dave Ward completely without stopping... or at least minimizing your stops to one or two. I've been stopped at all lights on Dave Ward before, and it can turn a three-minute trip into 15. The farther west, the better the traffic gets, but until you get past Farris/Dave Ward, things can still get pretty backed up."
Magee said Metroplan spent $300,000 in North Little Rock on JFK Boulevard to synchronize the traffic lights.
"You can really tell the difference," he said. "You do not stop at every light. It takes money to do it, but it's a lot cheaper than widening roads."
Reducing bottlenecks is about environmental quality as well, he said.
"If you keep the cars moving, it improves air quality. Cars put out more pollution when they're stopped," Magee said.
City Engineer Ronnie Hall said the city has a coordination plan for the lights on Dave Ward Drive but lacks the connectivity from the lights to a master computer. The city is working with Conway Corporation to reconnect the lights to Conway Corp's system, he said.
He noted, "It means the predominant flow of traffic moves smoothly. A coordinated plan doesn't mean nobody stops. It's just taking the largest movement of traffic and moving it smoothly through the corridor. When you have two major corridors (such as) Dave Ward Drive and Donaghey, that's the mess. The Donaghey traffic has to have a certain amount of time to move through the light, and it's longer than any other (intersection). That's the challenge."
He said the city is working on a plan to improve the intersection at Dave Ward Drive and Donaghey Avenue, and the Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department has given conceptual approval. The plan provides for two left turn lanes on the southbound and northbound sides of Donaghey Avenue at the intersection, Hall said. Don Sloat was among those who "dropped in" on Tuesday night. He said he would like to see some kind of light rail system between Conway and Little Rock but also in Conway with a few branches.
"The street situation is so bad. Everyone depends on cars," he said. "Little Rock needs to have (the light rail system) first. They need it going to the different malls, to get around downtown, to the hospitals, to get within two blocks of places so you can walk." Tonya Reddin suggested adding bike lanes on Prince Street. Her husband, Greg Reddin, said, "For bike riding, there's not a very safe way to go east-west across the freeway. It would be nice if the overpass at Siebenmorgen was wider, if there were bike lanes on Oak and Harkrider, a dedicated bike overpass or a tunnel under the freeway."
He said he would also like to see more public transit between Conway and Little Rock.
"Rather than having to widen (Interstate 40) If I didn't have to drive, I wouldn't care how wide the freeway was," he said.
After the end of the data collection period, Metroplan will process the information and report to the board of directors. Metroplan will schedule more town hall meetings and report the results of Operation Bottleneck, likely by the end of the year.
(Staff writer Rachel Parker Dickerson can be reached by e-mail at rachel.dickerson@thecabin.net or by phone at 505-1277. Send us your news at www.thecabin.net/submit)
