Flooding on the Black River has slowed the final stages of construction on the Highway 63 bridge at Black Rock. Officials with the Arkansas Highway Transportation Department tell the Sun plans were for the bridge to open to the public in late April, but it may be at least May before the span is open for use. Torrential rains caused the river to rise 10 feet above flood stage, which caused water to shut down nearby roads. Construction equipment has been mired in mud and water, but there is no word of equipment issues. Crews are hopeful to get back to work today and finish working on the 40 million dollar bridge’s deck. The weather calls for more rain tomorrow and Thursday.
Johnathan Reaves is the News Director for KASU Public Radio. As part of an Air Force Family, he moved to Arkansas from Minot, North Dakota in 1986. He was first bitten by the radio bug after he graduated from Gosnell High School in 1992. While working on his undergraduate degree, he worked at KOSE, a small 1,000 watt AM commercial station in Osceola, Arkansas. Upon graduation from Arkansas State University in 1996 with a degree in Radio-Television Broadcast News, he decided that he wanted to stay in radio news. He moved to Stuttgart, Arkansas and worked for East Arkansas Broadcasters as news director and was there for 16 years.