A new phase of work on the project to remake the Interstate 430/Interstate 630 interchange in west Little Rock will require a series of temporary lane closures to divert traffic around the area for part of the weekend, state highway officials announced Wednesday.
The closures are the latest that motorists will face in negotiating the $124 million interchange reconstruction project that has been ongoing for four years and is scheduled to be completed early next year.
“This is certainly another major step” in the project, said Randy Ort, a spokesman for the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department, which is responsible for the project.
“Yes, it’s going to be an inconvenience for … about a [32-hour] period. But we feel this is the best and safest way for the motoring public and for the contractor to best use his resources.”
The weekend lane closures, which will begin at 9 p.m. Saturday and last through 5 a.m. Monday, are needed to accommodate the installation of beams on the overpass being constructed over South Shackleford Road, the department said in a news release.
“A crane will be placed in the travel lanes on Shackleford,” Ort said. “You will not be able to go north and south on Shackleford at all through the intersection.”
In fact, the only travel through the intersection will involve westbound traffic on I-630. Those motorists crossing Shackleford from I-630 onto Financial Centre Parkway will be limited to one lane.
The other major changes:
Eastbound motorists on Financial Centre Parkway to I-630 will be limited to one lane and detoured to Hermitage Road, at which point they can turn left onto South Shackleford to access the interstate.
Motorists who are traveling north on Shackleford to West Markham Street from Kanis Road also will be limited to one lane and must turn east onto I-630 and access the cloverleaf ramps to I-630 west and back to Shackleford.
Motorists traveling South Shackleford to I-630 east will instead be detoured to West Markham Street and east to John Barrow Road for access. All other southbound traffic will be reduced to one lane and detoured to Financial Centre Parkway west and back to South Shackleford using Hermitage Road.
Construction workers will use the time that those lanes will be closed and the detours in place to hang and secure 10 beams across Shackleford from Financial Centre Parkway to I-630. Each beam is 130 feet long and weighs 32,500 pounds, or more than 16 tons, Ort said.
“This eventually will be the direct connection linking Financial Centre Parkway and the main lanes of Interstate 630,” he said.
The span eventually will stretch 190 feet, Ort said. The remaining 60 feet of the span will go over what is called a “Texas turnaround” lane that will allow motorists eastbound on Financial Centre Parkway to access businesses on the north side of the parkway without entering the Shackleford intersection, he said.
During the 32-hour period, workers also plan to install safety platforms for future work, Ort said. If platforms aren’t put in this weekend, some additional temporary overnight lane closures may be necessary, but they will be more limited in scope and duration, Ort added.
The intersection, dubbed the Big Rock Interchange, is the state’s busiest with 200,000 vehicles traveling through it daily, according to Highway and Transportation Department figures. Planners project 300,000 vehicles will be using it within 20 years.
Arkansas, Pages 9 on 03/27/2014