Boulevard proposed for I-30 in downtown Little Rock

Trees, intersections in architect’s plan

An artist’s rendering shows what the Interstate 30 corridor in downtown Little Rock and North Little Rock would look like as a boulevard under an alternative developed by Fennell Purifoy Architects. The firm said the alternative focuses on developing I-30 as an “at-grade” boulevard, restructuring the Interstate 30/Interstate 630 interchange and re-branding I-440 as the new I-30.
An artist’s rendering shows what the Interstate 30 corridor in downtown Little Rock and North Little Rock would look like as a boulevard under an alternative developed by Fennell Purifoy Architects. The firm said the alternative focuses on developing I-30 as an “at-grade” boulevard, restructuring the Interstate 30/Interstate 630 interchange and re-branding I-440 as the new I-30.

Tom Fennell, a principal in the Little Rock firm Fennell Purifoy Architects, has applied his background in neighborhood planning to the area of the city he has called home for nearly 50 years.

Last week, he distributed small booklets to the Little Rock Board of Directors outlining what he sees could be done to improve the Interstate 30 corridor through downtown by transforming it into a tree-lined boulevard with intersections that takes motorists through the city rather than, as highway engineers envision it, a 10-lane thoroughfare that takes travelers by the city.

The design in the booklet is a product of a volunteer effort by members of his firm. "I felt like that as a citizen, this was something I could do," Fennell said.

It was sparked after attending a public meeting on the project last fall. Fennell said he didn't get the impression that alternative ideas were "forthcoming. I decided to offer one for them to see the options that are available."

Fennell said he worries that a traditional interstate wouldn't serve the region over the next 20 years as it has over the past 20, given the improvements in transportation technology -- such as self-driving cars -- that seem to be on the horizon.

"We don't know if the freeway application is going to be valid in 15 or 20 years," he said. "It could be a big mistake."

Fennell said he has seen the effect of freeways on downtown over the 49 years he has lived there and fears the I-30 corridor project is going to "exacerbate that issue."

Fennell's proposal, called Arkansas Boulevard, includes many ideas that opponents of the 10-lane alternative have discussed. In addition to redeveloping I-30 as an "at-grade" boulevard, it restructures the Interstate 30/Interstate 630 interchange, re-brands Interstate 440 as the new I-30 and adds a new Arkansas River crossing on the west side of downtown.

The booklet uses drawings to help buttress the case for what the architects say is a "comprehensive solution" that takes "all parties into consideration."

"There is a huge economic windfall to the boulevard approach, for the continued expansion of downtown, the revival of east Little Rock neighborhoods cut off by the freeway and the net addition of developable land re-captured by the narrowing of the freeway and picking up the land used by the frontage roads."

Fennell said the cost of the plan would be approximately the same as the estimated $600 million it will cost to renovate the I-30 corridor. The plan does not designate whether the transformed boulevard would be a city street, a state highway or a U.S. highway.

The booklet is available for viewing or download at the "Improve 30Crossing" Facebook page.

The Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department is reviewing Fennell's proposal and hopes to have a formal response soon, said Ben Browning, the agency's design build project director who is helping oversee the I-30 corridor project.

"We are definitely looking at it," Browning said. "It has some benefits, but there's so much more we have to look at."

The I-30 corridor project "is much bigger than downtown Little Rock," he said.

The 6.7-mile corridor runs between Interstate 530 and Interstate 40 in North Little Rock and covers a short section of I-40 to U.S. 67/167, also in North Little Rock.

The project aims to reduce congestion and increase safety within the corridor and includes replacing the I-30 bridge over the Arkansas River, which was built 50 years ago and carries 125,000 vehicles daily. Construction on the project is expected to begin in early 2018 and last until 2022.

A study approved by the Federal Highway Administration last summer recommended that the corridor be widened from six to 10 lanes, with one lane in each direction from just south of Broadway in North Little Rock to Cantrell Road in Little Rock to serve as downtown collector/distributor lanes.

A barrier would separate those lanes from the main lanes and connect the main lanes with the interchange ramps and allow vehicles to operate at lower speeds than the main lanes but higher speeds than frontage roads.

The study determined that this alternative would best relieve traffic congestion, improve roadway safety, address structural and functional roadway and bridge deficiencies, and improve navigation safety on the Arkansas River.

But last fall, the Federal Highway Administration, at the urging of Metroplan, the long-range transportation planning agency for central Arkansas, asked state highway engineers to look again at an eight-lane alternative that the study had eliminated from consideration last May.

In recent weeks, "most of our focus has been to bring forth the eight-lane alternative," Browning said.

The next public meeting, scheduled for some time in late February, will show both the 10-lane and eight-lane alternatives, he said.

"It will be an apples-to-apples comparison," he said. "They will show exactly those two alternatives compared to each other."

Engineers also continue to develop alternatives for the Arkansas 10 interchange, which feeds traffic to and from I-30 and downtown Little Rock.

"We haven't come to a decision," Browning said. "We're doing more investigation" into potential impacts and costs."

A decision on that probably won't be ready for next month's meeting, he said.

Metro on 01/18/2016

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