By Deborah Horn Ready or not, the eclipse is coming. One thing is for certain, the April 8 solar eclipse’s path of totality cuts a wide diagonal swath across the state, starting in the Southwest corner and exiting the state near the Northeast. It will be big and possibly create bigger traffic problems—described by one ARDOT official like predicting a snowstorm. According to NASA, the Monday solar event will offer about two-thirds of all Arkansans a unique view of the upcoming

by Joe Quinn, AGRF Executive Director It’s difficult to visualize if you haven’t walked through the mud to stand at the end of the Humphries Ford Bridge in Hardy, Arkansas. The bridge is so low it seems to sit on top of the water. It’s narrow, and there is no guardrail. But despite all of this, until recently, hundreds of cars and trucks have been using the county-owned bridge every week to cross the river. If you had to select just one picture to show what aging infrastructu

by Joe Quinn, AGRF Executive Director In early September, my wife and daughter and I were at the wedding of a young man who is the son of a family we have been close to for decades. The event was a reunion of families who raised our children together. We shared third grade birthday parties, peewee football games, carpools, and worried about the transition from middle school to junior high together. To say the least, we know each other. I feel nostalgic looking at how well the

Keeping Politics off Arkansas’s Highways By Deborah Horn There are political voices in Arkansas who have periodically suggested abolishing or rewriting the 70-year-old Mack-Blackwell Amendment. During the 2023 Legislative Session, Senate Joint Resolutions 7 and 15 were introduced that would give legislators more of a say in highway business and where commissioners are appointed from. These died in committee. During an Arkansas Good Roads Foundation speech late in his final te

Since early 2020, highway crashes, serious injuries, and deaths have sharply increased by about 40 percent, but in highway construction work zones the increase was estimated at up to almost 70 percent. These numbers are causing the asphalt construction industry and experts to take notice. Speeding, raging, drinking, and distracted driving are ranked as top causes, and nationwide the high numbers held steady in the first quarter of 2022, up by about 7 percent over the same per