I live in a town of 20,000 people in a metropolitan region of +/- 1 million. Northwest Arkansas--yes, home of Wal-Mart.

We got an interstate about 8 years ago. About 5 years ago, a bus line was started that served only towns along the interstate. It's called Ozark Regional Transit. My town is not on the interstate corridor (25 miles away). ORT doesn't go into the cities and the schedule is small. You just have to get to the interstate, that's all. Might as well drive.

There is transportation available to the disabled and senior citizens (I drove a van for seniors in my youth). The disabled can get to doctor's appointments in town and certain other specific locations. The senior van, if it is like the one I drove (different town), picks up at home and carries them to the Senior Center, and on certain days to the grocery store and Wal-Mart, and to doctor's visits in hard cases. I would bet that the vast majority of seniors don't use that service here--but rely on family or friends instead. Very few people walk to their destinations here, and it is evidenced by the lack of sidewalks on the main drag through town. Some people bike commute, but only out of necessity. If there were buses, they'd take them.

It's just different here. I've traveled all over the US, and I've seen how good it can be. In Vermont, even the small cities have public transportation, for instance. I also know this area is not unique...that outside of the biggest cities like Austin, Houston, Little Rock, Memphis, Kansas City, etc., the big-city amenities just don't exist like they do on the coasts. Some of that has to do with tax base. Some of it has to do with attitudes. You should hear all the complaints when forward thinking individuals in Memphis started talking about a light rail system. The complainers don't think it's necessary. ("They" being the ones who don't HAVE TO use public transportation and with money to buy gas.) When I first moved here, I struggled with the truth that I could not find a place to make copies 24 hours a day. It was a shock.

It was a shock to visit small towns in Oregon and see bike lanes. It was a shock to see a "share the road" sign for bikes on the FREEWAY in New Mexico. Bikes are not allowed on the freeway here. Even the big cities mentioned above, some of them don't have bike lanes (Memphis, Little Rock). (There is a movement in both of those cities, though.)

It's not the same everywhere. Wal-Mart, Tyson, JB Hunt, and Jones Truck Lines have made NW Arkansas one of the fastest growing places in the country. It's a great place to live, but the way of life is different. No well-known family farms (that aren't raising chickens for Tyson). No well-known local dairies (although I did hear of one doing the raw milk thing recently). All the grape growers went out of business, so even Tontitown's Grape Festival uses grapes grown elsewhere. No more apple festival either. The real estate is too valuable because so many people are moving here.

We have infrastructure problems because of fast growth, but the rest of the state is like that, too.

Karen