Traffic was heavy during the evening rush Thursday on the first full day that the new Broadway Bridge was open to traffic, but it's likely that motorists didn't mind.
[BROADWAY BRIDGE: Videos + traffic map, cameras, previous coverage, photos here]
"It looks like everyone wants to get a taste of the new bridge at rush hour," said Nathan Hamilton, the spokesman for North Little Rock.
Hamilton was attending a reception in the ballroom of the Robinson Center Music Hall. The ballroom overlooks the bridge, which opened to traffic without fanfare Wednesday night.
From his vantage point, he could see traffic crossing the two other bridges over the Arkansas River that connect downtown Little Rock and North Little Rock.
"The Main Street Bridge isn't backed up at all," he said. "I-30, it's moving as well."
South Scott Street in Little Rock, which leads to the Main Street Bridge, has been clogged with commuters during the evening rush since the Broadway Bridge closed to traffic Sept. 29.
On Thursday evening, traffic along Scott Street was light after an afternoon in which sections of Scott Street were being blocked off in advance of Sunday's Little Rock Marathon.
Traffic on the Broadway Bridge was light during the morning commute. Few motorists seemed to realize that the bridge was open, even though word about it spread quickly via news outlets and social media.
"Less folks utilized the bridge than I anticipated," Danny Straessle, a spokesman for the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department, said earlier Thursday.
Motorists who used the bridge Thursday gave it positive reviews.
Tim Pendergrass, a Sherwood resident who is a service adviser at the McLarty Volkswagen dealership in North Little Rock, said he doesn't use the bridge for his daily commute, but has been following the bridge's progress and wanted to try it out.
"It was a great experience," he said after making the trip, a short video of which he posted on social media. "It was smooth, the lanes were wide. It's beautiful."
On Monday, state highway officials announced that they didn't expect the bridge to open to traffic until next week. But unexpectedly dry weather allowed the contractor, Massman Construction Co. of Kansas City, Mo., to complete the work necessary to open the bridge much quicker than expected.
"We were pretty sure it was going to open by midafternoon" Wednesday, Straessle said.
State highway officials had to re-pour concrete on a section of the south approach to the bridge and were awaiting test results on samples taken of that concrete, Straessle said.
Wednesday night was as good a time as any to open the bridge to traffic, he said.
"You don't want to do it during rush hour," Straessle said. "We wanted to make sure we were able to do so without a lot of traffic."
Little Rock officials learned about the bridge opening the same time everyone else did Wednesday night, said Bill Henry, the city's traffic manager.
He was at home Wednesday night. He said he was able to access the traffic signal management system and adjust some of the traffic signals to accommodate the heavier north-south traffic that was expected Thursday at Broadway and West Markham streets at the foot of the bridge.
"It did just fine" Thursday morning, Henry said.
He expects the new bridge to help with downtown traffic this weekend. The Main Street Bridge is part of the route for people running the Little Rock Marathon's 26.2-mile course.
"There's another place for traffic to go now," Henry said.
Under the terms of the $98.4 million bridge contract awarded in 2014, Massman had 180 days to close the bridge, dismantle it, build the new bridge and open it to traffic. As of Thursday, Massman opened the bridge 28 days ahead of its March 29 deadline.
Under the financial incentives part of the contract, the company is to receive $80,000 for each day the span opened early. For 28 days, the total would be $2,240,000. For every day that the project went beyond 180 days, Massman would have had to pay $80,000 per day.
The Highway Department won't be cutting a check just yet, though. Massman has another deadline. The bridge must be substantially completed by June 4, Straessle said.
Massman initially had 810 calendar days to complete the entire project. The Highway Department added 132 calendar days to compensate for delays caused by river flooding in 2015 that prevented work on the bridge, Straessle said. Change orders in the contract also accounted for some of the additional days.
It will take a few weeks or even a couple of months to complete the project. A connection for southbound traffic to LaHarpe Boulevard on the Little Rock side of the span is still unfinished, as is the shared-use path for bicyclists and pedestrians, and connections to the Arkansas River Trail on both sides of the river.
There is also the matter of streetlights. Not all the poles have been installed nor has electrical power to the bridge been connected, Straessle said.
On Wednesday night, lighting used during construction was used to light up the bridge, he said. The Highway Department was working with the contractor to continue that arrangement until the street lighting is complete. That accommodation hadn't been reached by Thursday evening, Straessle said.
Meanwhile, the bridge will see some lane closures as early as next week as Massman completes the project. The department has said those lane closures won't occur during peak traffic periods.
Metro on 03/03/2017