By the time the end of 2023 comes around, Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department members expect Little Rock to have a 10-lane highway passing through its downtown.
“It’s definitely going to go,” says Danny Straessle, assistant public information officer at the department.
The projected 7.4-mile stretch of highway will start at the southern terminal, where Interstate 30, Interstate 530 and Interstate 440 meet. From there, it will go through the Interstate 630 interchange and over the Interstate 30 bridge before ending where Interstate 40 meets U.S. 67.
SAFETY A PRIORITY
Straessle says the goal of the corridor is to decrease congestion and travel time, as well as promote safety in traveling through the metro area.
“The I-30 corridor that goes through the metro area is the busiest travel corridor in the state,” Straessle says. “It’s pretty much reached its capacity to carry traffic.”
Straessle says the highway will have five lanes going in both directions, north and south. Of the five lanes on either side, three will be travel lanes dedicated to through traffic, which is traffic not exiting the highway.
“Right now, there’s only three lanes,” Straessle says. “To get off the interstate, you have to exit right off of it.”
The other two lanes on either side of the three lanes will address the entrance-exit issue. The collection and distribution lanes, similar to those that travelers see on Interstate 430, will address the current issue of traffic having to pull straight out of an exit and into the flow of traffic. The collection and distribution lanes will also allow cars to pull off into an exit without causing as much congestion as the city sees now with drivers having to pull right off the highway, he says.
Straessle says some sections will have auxiliary lanes that connect exit and entrance ramps directly, allowing those who are heading only to the next exit to stay in one lane.
“You will be able to get from one downtown exit to another without having to get in through traffic,” Straessle says. “We take the local traffic off the main lanes and onto the collection-distribution lanes.”
BUILDING
The project is funded by the half-cent sales tax approved by Arkansas voters in 2012. The sales tax went into effect July 2013.
If approved, the expansion of the highway will be the biggest dollar amount awarded for the department at approximately $450 million. Currently, the biggest award for a project by the department was $100.6 million for the U.S. 412 northern bypass in Springdale, a 4.5-mile stretch of land, Straessle says.
Straessle says the project is expected to begin in 2018. Instead of using bids, there will be a submission of credentials and that the department will decide who’s qualified. The project will use a design-build team, which will consist of a consulting engineer and a contractor.
When the project begins, the hopes are that three lanes will be open in both directions for traffic, Straessle says. He says the number of lanes isn’t set in stone and there may be less, depending on the needs of the team building the project.
Straessle says there will likely be a lot of staging of traffic, with lanes shifting when the need calls for it.
“It has to wrap up before 2023,” he says. “That’s when the half-cent sales tax sunsets.”
PUBLIC RESPONSE
Straessle says four public meetings have been held thus far for feedback. He says many people were apprehensive about the widening, expressing concerns that property would be taken.
“There was a lot of difference between the first and fourth meetings,” Straessle says. “Once folks took a look at what was proposed and saw we had most of the right of way we needed, I think tensions eased.”
Contact Joseph via email (joseph@syncweekly.com)