GRIDLOCK GURU : State buys route, but bypass iffy
Posted on Friday, August 29, 2008
People who spend $ 50, 000 to buy land now for the $ 350, 000 home they’ll never be able to afford give The Guru a chuckle.
Ah, hope is eternal, even for gravediggers, journalists and hamburger flippers who think they’ll be able to afford a fancy home someday.
This occurs to The Guru as he answers Bentonville resident Mike Brinson’s question about the Bella Vista bypass.
Afterward, The Guru answers questions about hydrogen cars and about something he didn’t do in the 1960 s.
Question: “Just moved to Northwest Arkansas and have heard some talk about the Bella Vista bypass,” Brinson writes. “What is it all about ?”
Answer: Brinson recently moved from Springfield, Mo., to start a church, so that’s why he didn’t know about the bypass that will drop down from Missouri west of Bella Vista and Hiwasse before it bends east and connects with U. S. 71 in north Bentonville.
Building the Arkansas portion of the bypass (the rest is Missouri’s issue ) will cost $ 210 million, said Randy Ort, an Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department spokesman.
Another $ 25 million to $ 30 million must be spent on land where the bypass will go. Eighty of 128 tracts have been acquired for $ 17. 1 million, Ort said.
Seventeen are still in negotiation, and the owners of 31 tracks rejected the state’s top offer, meaning the state will condemn the land, Ort said.
With $ 17. 1 million of the available $ 40 million spent, the state needs another $ 200 million or so. There’s no point in guessing when the “fancy home” gets built on the state’s new lots.
Q: “I’ve been reading on the Internet about how to increase gas mileage by building or buying a hydrogen generator,” writes Rick Lynn of Siloam Springs. “If you Google a search on ‘run your car on water,’ you’ll be surprised what you can learn. Some seem legit and others I question.”
A: If hydrogen mumbo jumbo can improve gas mileage in a way that the average person can afford it, wouldn’t the generators be sold at Wal-Mart or AutoZone rather than on the Internet ?
The answer is “yes.”
Always let others buy the latest, greatest thing. Let them ruin their cars and then decide if you want to damage your car and jeopardize your car’s warranty.
That said, if you insist on buying a hydrogen gizmo for your car now, please send The Guru an e-mail so he can send you details about his peanut-butter injection, fat burner for $ 19. 95.
Q: “I am researching a manuscript that you may have edited in the 1960 s, which is named ‘ An Irreverent History Of The Port Of New Orleans, ’” writes Rachel Lewis of Beaumont, Texas. “This draft was written by Peg E. Culligan and edited by Robert J. Smith. Are you this particular editor ?”
A: The good news is Lewis, a Southerland Head Start teacher, promised not to make her pre-kindergarten students study the port’s history.
The alphabet ? Yes. Irreverent histories ? Not so much.
The bad news is The Guru was younger than your students in the 1960 s.
Sorry. Robert J. Smith, aka The Guru, writes on traffic issues in Northwest Arkansas each Friday. He can be reached at gridlockguru @arkansasonline. com or www. nwanews. com / gridlockguru.
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