Proposal for busy stretch of Cantrell Road in west Little Rock takes cue from interstate junction

Map showing the latest plans for I-430/Cantrell
Map showing the latest plans for I-430/Cantrell

A new option to improve a traffic-clogged section of Cantrell Road in west Little Rock includes an element familiar to anyone who travels the I-430/I-630 interchange.

The latest proposal employs the element -- known as a single-point urban interchange -- to address traffic at Cantrell and North Rodney Parham Road, a particularly vexing choke point.

The Interstate 430/Interstate 630 interchange, nicknamed by the department as Big Rock, also includes South Shackleford Road and Chenal Parkway. The project to improve that interchange, completed in 2015 at a cost of $160 million over three phases, added a bridge to carry I-630 traffic over Shackleford. Before the bridge was built, I-630 traffic had to go through Shackleford rather than over it.

The newest design for Cantrell/Rodney Parham includes a bridge to carry traffic over Rodney Parham.

"It will look very, very similar [to Big Rock interchange]," said Mike Fugett, assistant chief engineer for design at the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department. "It's almost identical."

The department, citing surging traffic and increased development, has been studying an 8.5-mile section of the Cantrell Road corridor west from Pleasant Valley Drive since 2012.

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Up to 54,000 vehicles travel every day on that section of Cantrell, the highest traffic volume of any arterial, or non-interstate roadway, in Arkansas. A study of the corridor projects 76,000 vehicles per day will be using the corridor in 20 years.

By 2013, focusing on a smaller section between Pleasant Valley and Pleasant Ridge Road, highway engineers settled on a plan to turn the section of Cantrell across I-430 into a continuous-flow intersection, which is a design that would remove left-hand turns against traffic in the interchange.

Both the continuous-flow intersection and the single-point urban interchange will be presented as two alternatives at a public meeting Thursday at Christ the King Catholic Church at 4000 N. Rodney Parham Road. The meeting will be 4-7 p.m. in the church's fellowship hall.

Motorists and people who live and work in the area will have an opportunity to view displays of the designs, ask questions and offer comments and play a role in which alternative is selected, the department said.

"They are going to look at both," Fugett said. "The single-point probably will move more traffic and last longer. But with that comes additional cost. It also affects property more.

"We're trying to get their opinions and thoughts on both in this meeting."

When engineers first began looking at the project, the efficacy of the single-point urban interchange hadn't been established. But the design has been incorporated into projects around the nation and proved to be effective, according to Fugett.

"We always go back and re-evaluate [designs] to see if we're right," Fugett said.

The department has been considering the continuous-flow design for the interchange since 2003 when a department study evaluated the its use at five intersections in Arkansas, including Cantrell-North Rodney Parham.

The design would remove left turns from the main intersection. For westbound traffic on Cantrell, that means drivers turning left onto Rodney Parham would make that turn several hundred feet before the intersection. That traffic, controlled by a light, would move into a segregated lane on the south side of Cantrell to another light at Rodney Parham, where the turn would be executed.

"They really work well," Fugett said. "They move a lot of traffic and move it very efficiently. But it doesn't last as long as a [single-point urban interchange.]"

Under the Arkansas 10 Improvement Study recommendations, the project with the continuous-flow design included widening Cantrell to eight lanes between Pleasant Valley Drive and Woodland Heights Road. West of Woodland heights, Cantrell would be widened to six lanes to Taylor Loop Road and to four lanes between Arkansas 300 and Ferndale Cutoff Road.

"A lot of that is still good," Fugett said.

The department has allotted $58.3 million to spend on the project in 2019, according to the agency's 2016-2020 statewide transportation improvement program, which lists the projects on which the department plans to advance. The money includes $46.64 million in federal funds and $11.66 million in state funds.

The listing limits the scope of the project to "major widening" on a 3.13-mile section of Cantrell between Pleasant Valley and Taylor Loop roads.

Work to improve the interchange already has begun with the awarding of a $22.9 million contract to build a ramp from westbound Cantrell, also called Arkansas 10, to I-430 north.

The project will eliminate the left-hand turn against eastbound traffic that westbound traffic now requires to access I-430 north. The design involves a flyover that will take traffic over the interstate and allow the traffic to merge from the outside northbound lane.

That project is expected to take less than a year to complete.

Metro on 03/26/2017

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