After the Broadway Bridge opened to traffic with little fanfare Wednesday night, the news was still trickling out to commuters Thursday morning, officials said.
As of 10 a.m. there have been no backups and no problems on the new span, said Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department spokesman Danny Straessle. The number of cars crossing Thursday morning was lower than expected, he said, adding that many people likely woke up to the news and wanted to check out the area before they “take the plunge.”
The bridge, which connects the downtowns of Little Rock and North Little Rock, opened without ceremony shortly after 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, 152 days after the old Broadway Bridge was closed to traffic, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported. The company charged with the project, Massman Construction Co., had 180 days to reopen it.
Straessle said he expects more people to use the Broadway Bridge for their Thursday afternoon trip home and for Friday's morning commute. Before it closed, the span supported 25,000 vehicles a day, and the new bridge was designed with that number in mind, Straessle said, adding he hopes some people who discovered the Main Street Bridge as an alternative will continue to use it.
That bridge, fed by Scott Street in Little Rock and Maple Street in North Little Rock, has long been “underutilized,” Straessle said. That's probably because the Broadway Bridge has more interstate “arteries” leading to it, while the Main Street Bridge is technically a highway sitting among a grid of city streets, he said.
“It’s kind of an island, if you will, as far as state highways go,” Straessle said.
But with the Broadway Bridge closure, central Arkansans motorists were forced to find new routes and became “reacquainted” with the alternative downtown span, Straessle said.
North Little Rock spokesman Nathan Hamilton said he also thinks commuters learned a new trick in using the Main Street Bridge as a substitute. It’s too early to know if that pattern will continue, he said, adding that city officials will be monitoring the time and location of backups in the coming days. This morning, Hamilton had no complaints.
“The traffic looks just fine. It’s not a problem. It’s actually a lot lower than we kind of expected it to be,” Hamilton said of the Broadway Bridge.
He likened traffic to water, saying, “It’s going to find the easiest, least resistant route.”
Straessle offered the same comparison and said a natural balance will eventually be struck between traffic on the two bridges.
“Like water, it will seek its own level," he said.
Read Friday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.