YES, I AM STILL HERE peeking out my window on Main Street, and this week’s column is about how an article in the statewide newspaper recently reminded me that I had once bragged that I had driven across every Arkansas bridge over the Arkansas River.
I couldn’t remember the exact and official number so I did the only sensible thing — I wrote to our Arkansas Department of Transportation (ARDOT) district commissioner, a gent named David Haak who lives in Texarkana.
I warned him that his response might the basis of a newspaper column.
Mr. Haak informed me that there are 15 ARDOT bridges over the river; also 3 bridges owned by the US Army Corps of Engineers. There will be another one someday if/when the I-49 bridge also near Ft. Smith is built.
In addition to those, there are two footbridges in Little Rock, and also one railroad bridge.
I used Google Maps to check the locations of the ARDOT bridges.
To the best I can determine and remember:
— The Arkansas 64 bridge at Ft. Smith, notable because you start out in Arkansas and get off on the end in Oklahoma.
— The US 71B (Business) bridge bypassing Ft. Smith goes across the river to Van Buren.
— The US 540 bridge also goes to Van Buren.
— The Hwy. 49 Bridge at Barling. Interesting that the Ft. Smith area has nearly as many bridges as Little Rock over the Arkansas River. And more than Pine Bluff, the only other large city on the river.
— The Hwy. 23 Bridge at Ozark. You’ll use this one if you’re coming home from visiting the tasting rooms at Wiederkehr and Post wineries.
— The Hwy. 27 Bridge connecting Dardanelle to Russellville. Arkansas Nuclear One is nearby for those folks who have vehicle radiation detectors.
— The Hwy. 113 Bridge at Morrilton. My late wife lived at Morrilton and I drove across this bridge often when we were a’courting.
— The Hwy. 60 Bridge at Conway. Sometimes people call this the Toad Suck Ferry Bridge.
— I-430, Little Rock.
— US. 70, downtown Little Rock.
— I-30, Little Rock.
— I-440 Little Rock.
— Hwy. 79, Pine Buff.
— Hwy. 79B (Business), Pine Bluff. I always try to go through Pine Bluff as fast as I can. And I ‘duck’ even though it’s not safe to drive that way.
— Hwy. 165 Bridge at Pendleton. I confess that I had never heard of the town of Pendelton, Ark., before. It’s an unincorporated community in Desha County.
In addition to the vehicular bridges there are:
— The Baring Cross railroad bridge at Little Rock.
— The Big Dam footbridge at Little Rock. The bridge is actually owned by Pulaski County, I’m informed by the Arkansas Department of Transportation headquarters.
— The footbridge at the President Clinton Library.
So, there really ARE ‘15 bridges’ owned by the Arkansas Department of Transportation by my count.
That number does not include the footbridges or railroad bridges. And by the way, I’ve been in a railcar over the rail bridge and I’ve hoofed it over both of the footbridges.
I thank Commissioner Haak and the courteous and helpful folks at US Corps of Engineers headquarters for providing this uplifting and vital information.
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ANIMAL CRACKERS: Sure enough. Friday afternoon a Mississippi Kite circled the neighborhood. Obviously it didn’t read my column about how they had already headed to winter quarters.
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MORE ANIMAL CRACKERS. Both of my regular readers will remember a fairly-recent column in which I mentioned seeing a small flock of dark birds with white collars as they flew past in V-formation.
I finally began to think that I just imagined seeing them.
Then, Saturday, there was one such bird walking on the patio sidewalk. A little later it was perched on the fence near my bird feeder. By the time I found my phone/camera this bird was gone.
But I saw it and I described it accurately. Promise.
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AND ANOTHER THING I have learned: The problem with the gene pool is that there is no lifeguard.
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HE SAID: “As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.” John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States of America; also U.S. Navy veteran of WWII
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SHE SAID: “Never give up, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.” Harriet Beecher Stowe, author and abolitionist
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SWEET DREAMS, Baby
