# Arkansas Department of Transportation
The state cabinet-level agency responsible for Arkansas highways, including the **issuance of right-of-way permits for traffic-control devices placed in state-highway right-of-way**. In this corpus, ARDOT is the permitting authority for Conway PD's 14 Flock ALPRs installed on Highways 60, 64, 65, and 365 — and historically, ARDOT was also the addressee of the 2023 Mayor-Castleberry-signed support letter for the pre-Flock LPR program under Chief Tapley.
## Organizational structure (as anchored in the corpus)
- **Director**: Jared D. Wiley, P.E. (per ARDOT letterhead in this corpus).
- **District 8** — covers Faulkner, Conway, Johnson, Logan, Montgomery, Perry, Pope, Van Buren, and Yell Counties.
- **District Engineer**: David Ross. Signs Special Permit SP-08-2025-0036.
- **Permit Officer**: Tabie W. Richards (cell `
[email protected]`, office (479) 968-2286). Day-to-day permit counterparty.
- **Transportation Systems Management & Operations (TSMO) Division** — reviews traffic-control device applications statewide.
- **Division Head**: Joseph D. Hawkins. Signs Permit P1948.
- **Senior Intern (reviewer in this case)**: Bryan W. Chun.
## Role in this corpus
ARDOT is the state-side permitting authority for surveillance cameras placed in state-highway right-of-way. Two distinct permit types appear:
- **Traffic Control Device Permit and Agreement (TCD permit)** — issued by TSMO Division at the state level. For Conway PD's deployment, **Permit No. 1948** was issued December 31, 2025 covering "Installation of 14 ALPRs in Conway, Arkansas."
- **District Special Permit** — issued by the District 8 engineer with conditions on traffic-control, indemnification, removal, MUTCD compliance, etc. For Conway PD, **Special Permit SP-08-2025-0036** was issued February 9, 2026 (expiration 2027-02-09).
Per the ARDOT permit conditions: *"the cameras shall only be used for law enforcement purposes."* This is the only substantive scope-limitation in the permit itself. ARDOT's review focuses on traffic-control and engineering compatibility, not on the surveillance program's substantive policy.
## Notes
- ARDOT operates under the Arkansas State Highway Commission, with authority for traffic-control devices on state highways delegated by Section 109(d), Title 23, U.S. Code, and Ark. Code Ann. §§ 27-52-104 and 105 (per recitals on the TCD permit).
- The agency's web-archived presence has not yet been ingested into `web archive/` as a Tier-2 source; addresses and titles in this page are anchored on the FOIA-2026-127 documents.
- ARDOT does not appear in the prior Conway PD `PD-2026-354` corpus — the Mayor's-Office FOIA-2026-127 production is the first anchoring of ARDOT in this investigation.