Faulkner County will take a slice of the $350 million in stimulus package money heading Arkansas' way, it was decided in Metroplan and Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department meetings Wednesday.

A weighty issue in the subdivision balancing act is traffic: Flow, safety, access management and assuring that streets do the jobs they are designed for. This issue is behind the requirement of sidewalks on main streets and planners' desires to encourage multiple access to subdivisions.

Metroplan is hosting a meeting in Conway next week to hear the public talk about priorities for the future of traffic.

State Rep. Preston Scroggin, D-Vilonia, received the Jack Evans Regional Leadership Award from Metroplan at the group's board meeting Wednesday in Little Rock.

The most important quality of a road is not that it be smooth, look nice or even move traffic quickly. The most important quality of a road is it must be as safe as possible.