67 meeting, bridge project, bring top highway man to Clay County

The top official from the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department visited Northeast Arkansas Friday. At the urging of regional lawmakers, Dan Flowers first spoke at Corning concerning the future plans for U.S. 67 and later toured the Cache River bridges on Highway 135 near the Clay-Greene county line. At that location he joined a contingent of regional leaders in announcing the project to replace the aged and narrow spans should be bid in the fall.

"This is a project that has needed to be done for a long time," State Rep. Mike Patterson of Piggott noted as he introduced Flowers along the busy state highway. Also on hand were District #10 Highway Commissioner John Ed Rengold, John Moran with Gov. Mike Beebe's office, District #10 Engineer Walter McMillan, Clay County Judge Gary Howell, representatives of Blanche Lincoln's office, Highway Department personnel and local residents.

"We've got a lot of these narrow old bridges that need to be replaced across the state," Flowers said of the Cache River bridge. "It's become even more of a problem as traffic has increased."

The plans call for the replacement of both bridges at the Cache River crossing, which is located on Highway 135 in Greene County, just south of the Clay County line. There are two bridges at the location -- the oldest is the north span, which was built in 1929.

"Currently, the environmental work and site impact study is going on at the bridge site," Flowers explained. "That will be followed by further development and securing right-of-ways. Bids on the project should be let by this fall if all goes well."

Flowers is a native of Batesville and has served as director of the highway department since Jan. 3, 1994. He first worked for the AHTD as a part-time summer employee in the Batesville office prior to graduating college in 1969.

"We had a similar meeting out here a few years ago," John Moran, with Gov. Beebe's office noted. "Soon after that the governor was in the area for the Fourth of July picnics and a lot of people talked to him about the problems with these bridges." Moran said the governor called him into his office the following Monday and told him, "there's a bad bridge on Highway 135, call Dan Flowers --- I want it gone."

Moran said the process was then put into motion and the project presented at the next meeting of the Highway Commission. "Now we're looking at possibly bidding out the job by October," he added.

"I can't say how pleased I am that the AHTD is moving forward with this project," State Sen. Robert Thompson of Paragould said of the effort Monday. "This has been a long time coming, and I'm glad they are now making plans to proceed."

Earlier in the day Flowers and members of the group took part in a meeting at Corning on the future of the U.S. 67 project. "Highway 67 North was opened to Highway 226 near Cash recently," Flowers said of the meeting. "And there is another 15-mile stretch currently under construction that will extend the highway from 226 to the Hoxie-Walnut Ridge bypass." Flowers also said the department hopes to let bids in March for the new connector to the Jonesboro area from the interchange of U.S. 67 and Highway 226.

"We'll be looking at extending the highway from the Hoxie-Walnut Ridge bypass north to the Missouri state line near Corning in the next few years," he noted. "Of course, our first priority is to get to the Hoxie-Walnut Ridge bypass, but we will try to be sensitive to the local feelings on the subject in prioritizing work in the future."

Flowers also observed that more goes into planning the route for a highway than most people would think. "There is a great deal to be considered, not only the impact to the public -- but to the environment and even historical structures," he added.