The reworking of the Interstate 430/Interstate 30 interchange, built in 1975, had been on the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department "radar" since 2003 -- if not on its drawing board.
A decade later, it was moving closer to reality. Ads were published to spread the word.
A "public involvement meeting" was held Feb. 28, 2013, at which there was a strong endorsement for improvements to the interchange, which had become a traffic knot as southbound and westbound motorists left Little Rock for the fast-growing outlying areas.
Six months later -- and a few days after the plan for the 30-acre Outlets at Little Rock was filed with the city of Little Rock -- a spokesman for the department said the interchange project would not be completed till 2016 or 2017.
That would be long after the anticipated opening in mid-2015 of the opening of the 75-80 outlet stores in the Gateway Town Center. And behind the scenes, developers and city officials lobbied for a quicker turnaround time.
Last month, the department announced the first phase of the interchange project would be complete by November.
TRAFFIC CONGESTION
The Nov. 13, 2013, opening of the Bass Pro Shops at the Gateway Town Center caused a major traffic jam.
That snarl-up underscored what Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola had said in a letter dated Feb. 28, 2013, to the department that "it is critical that the improvements to the I-430/I-30 interchange, particularly the exit from I-430 onto the frontage road, be completed before the opening of the Bass Pro Shops in November.
"Any obstacles to a successful opening of this development could have negative consequences for its long-term success, the area's long-term economic development and the future tax revenues for the city, county and state from this development," the mayor wrote.
Completion in 2016 or 2017 would mean that many motorists would have to continue to reach the outlet stores and the Bass Pro Shops by a circuitous route till the roadwork was finished.
The Highway Department's interchange project is not specifically designed to address the traffic linked to the retail center, department spokesman Danny Straessle said when the outlets plan was filed last year with the city.
"There's an enormous amount of traffic that comes south on I-430 and heads west on I-30 into Saline County [and] backs up every afternoon almost to Colonel Glenn, sometimes Shackleford Road," Strassele said.
When the advertisement for it was sent to the Democrat-Gazette and posted on the agency website on May 2, a "special provision" stated that "failure to open the I-430 [southbound] ramp to [north] Frontage Road and I-30 [westbound] exit ramp by October 31, 2014 will result in a daily use charge of $220,000 [to be paid by the contractor] per day until the ramps are open to traffic." Special provisions are a common amendment to projects, said Randy Ort, public information officer for the agency.
But the bids that came in on June 4 more than double the department's estimate and were rejected. Of the two bids, the best was for $43.7 million, submitted by Kiewit Infrastructure South Co. of Fort Worth.
PHASE ONE AND TWO
The department said that it would divide the project into two phases and that bids would be accepted July 23.
New England Development said at a June 24 press conference in Little Rock that the outlet stores would be open for business on July 31, 2015, and that the access problem had been solved -- the revamping of the interchange would be completed before then.
A news release handed out that day by New England said the Highway Department was opening an "I-430 southbound off-ramp and connection to the frontage road leading to the Gateway Town Center ... in conjunction with the construction of the outlet center."
Straessle said June 24 in a telephone interview that "was going to have to be done first," whether or not the project was done in one or two phases.
The first phase of the revised plan -- including ramp work that would benefit the outlet stores and the rest of the 176.4-acre Gateway Town Center -- was to be completed by Nov. 14, 2014. The penalty for missing that deadline would be $20,000 day.
Eliminating the Otter Creek Road and Mabelvale Pike exit and replacing it with one east of the interchange will solve a "weaving" or lane-changing problem, caused by southbound I-430 traffic entering I-30 west and westbound traffic on I-30 trying to exit, Ort said.
"That's the thing that could be done quickest to provide the most benefit to the motoring public," Ort said.
Hundreds of Highway Department emails and other documents for 2013 and 2014 were provided to the Democrat-Gazette, which asked for them under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act.
Some reflect an active interest in the interchange on the part of Tommy Hodges, developer of the Gateway Town Center, who talked with the agency about building the I-430 off-ramp himself.
But Ort said that "we didn't alter our plans for [the developers]."
Employees of the agency sign an oath against favoritism, vowing to "impartially execute the duties of ... employment," Ort noted.
The second phase of the reworking of the interchange calls for addition of a third southbound lane on I-430 starting at Stagecoach Road, widening of the I-30 westbound frontage road and addition of a ramp from I-30 west to I-430 northbound. There is no time frame yet for the second phase.
Scott E. Bennett, director of Highways and Transportation, wrote Stodola in a letter dated March 14, 2013, that Hodges had inquired about the I-430 southbound off-ramp and "was advised that the Department would issue a [construction] permit to him [but he] indicated that the Department's tentative schedule would be adequate."
Six months later, on Oct. 14, 2013, Hodges said in an email to Michael Fugett, assistant chief engineer for design, that "traffic movement will be simplified by the fact that the frontage road is one way, thereby eliminating left turns. The location is critical to the success of the project because the Outlet Mall is at that major corner."
Brooke Perkins, staff design engineer, said in an email to Trinity Smith, head of the Roadway Design division, on Nov. 8, 2013, that Matt Crafton, president of Crafton Tull engineering and representing Hodges, had "contacted him about ... [cost for] building the I-430 southbound exit ramp to the North Frontage Road and for building the frontage road."
Fugett said in a Nov. 8 email to Smith that "there is NO DEAL" with Hodges.
Evidently, Hodges had not abandoned the idea. Mike Burns, a senior vice president with Crafton Tull, said in an email on Dec. 2, 2013, that he "received a call from Tommy Hodges this morning asking us to put a contract for design only for the improvements he wants to construct on the I-30/I-430 project."
Sunday Monday Business on 07/13/2014