LITTLE ROCK — Construction on the Interstate 430/Intestate 630 interchange in west Little Rock was expected to enter a new phase this morning with the temporary closure of two loop ramps and lane shifts narrowing northbound I-430 to one lane for up to 24 hours at a time.
The Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department is continuing to advise motorists to avoid the interchange if possible, spokesman Randy Ort said.
“If you’re going to narrow an interstate to one lane, it’s going to cause some slowdowns, and people need to be aware of that,” Ort said. “If they can use an alternate route to get through the area, we would suggest they consider that.”
The work is the final phase of a 20-day stretch of lane shifts and other changes on I-430 needed to accommodate the hanging of steel beams that will support flyover ramps connecting the two highways.
Ort said the contractors expected to finish work on what are normally the southbound lanes of I-430 on Friday night. Traffic will then be shifted to those lanes to accommodate work on the northbound lanes.
The work will require closing the two loop ramps that allow motorists to travel between northbound I-430 and Financial Centre Parkway.
With the ramps closed, detour signs will direct motorists to the I-430 ramps at Shackleford Road, about a mile south of the I-430/I-630 interchange.
Meanwhile, I-430 northbound will periodically close to one lane, possibly for up to 24 hours at a time, as workers shift traffic to the southbound side of the highway.
The latest phase of construction is expected to last eight to 10 days, Ort said. It will then take about two more days to shift the lanes back to their original positions, allowing the loop ramps to be reopened.
Since the period of lane shifts began July 19, traffic through the interchange has dropped, Ort said.
“We hope traffic problems will be kept to a minimum,” Ort said. “Motorists have been very attentive to our pleas to limit travel through the interchange area.
“I don’t know of any significant travel problems that we have had, and we hope that will continue.”
Arkansas State Police spokesman Bill Sadler said his agency has had up to two troopers stationed in the area to respond to any problems and “as a visual reminder for people to slow down.”
The interchange has been averaging about one traffic accident a day, a slight increase over the number of crashes before construction began, Sadler said. None of the crashes since July 19 has involved serious injury, he said.
He said his agency is advising motorists to “steer clear of the area unless they absolutely have to” use the interchange.
“All in all I think it’s fair to say that everyone has paid attention to the warning,” Sadler said.
The flyover ramps are part of a $124 million project to unsnarl traffic at the state’s busiest intersection.
To minimize disruption, the contractors, Manhattan Road & Bridge Co. of Tulsa and Weaver-Bailey Contractors Inc. of El Paso in White County, have been working around the clock every day, including weekends, since July 19.
Ort said work since then has been delayed for a few hours twice: the first day, when rain stopped work on a lane shift, and Thursday night, when wind and lightning halted work on beam hanging.
But he said the department still expects to finish on schedule. Barring any delays, the 20-day period would end Aug. 7.
A page on the department’s website, www.arkansashighways.com, counts down the days left.
Ort added that the work involved coordinating deliveries of 9-foot-tall steel beams of up to 130 feet in length, along with the cranes to put the beams into position.
According to the website, the largest beam weighs 114,000 pounds.
“There’s probably a year’s worth of planning that went into this 20-day period,” Ort said.
Ort said the latest lane shifts and ramp closures are the biggest traffic disruption so far in the project, which began in January 2009 and is expected to be finished in about 2 1/2 years.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 07/28/2012