Winter, holidays no cheer for I-40

Road work adds to traffic snarls

The most troublesome spot on the Arkansas highway system these days is the section of Interstate 40 being rebuilt between Hazen and Brinkley.

It is bad enough that on a good day, 40,000 vehicles must squeeze into half the number of lanes that were available in that stretch before the project began in earnest in 2011. Then for good measure, throw in holiday travel, increased traffic and the snowstorm that hit Christmas day.

“We got the triple whammy,” said Randy Ort, a spokesman for the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department, which is overseeing the project. “It runs fine 80 to 90 percent of the time. We only run into trouble when it’s a holiday and have increased volume.”

Those added wrinkles recently left traffic backedup for miles and required, in some cases, three hours for vehicles to get through the construction site, which limits traffic to one lane in both directions instead of the normal two.

As late as Friday afternoon, an online tool that monitors traffic flow listed movement through the 10.35-mile section straddling the White River as “slow.”

The department has used several strategies to deal with the traffic headaches there.

The “Know the Red Zone” campaign posts warnings on electronicmessage boards stationed far in advance of the construction on both ends of the project. Also used are highway-advisory radio stations.

The campaign, which can be accessed at a link on the department’s website - arkansashighways.com - also urges drivers to use smart-phone travel apps to monitor traffic flow on roadways.

So far, the I-40 project has been the only focus of the initiative.

The $56.3 million project also requires the contractor - Koss Construction Co. Inc. of Topeka, Kan. - to have a motorist-assistance patrol, equipped with such things as tools, gasoline, motor oil and coolant to quickly aid motorists stranded because of flat tires, no fuel or other minor breakdowns. That’s part of an effort to minimize delays and keep traffic moving in the construction area. The contract alsorequires a traffic-control supervisor on-site.

Also, the department has publicized two alternate routes - U.S. 70, which parallels I-40, and U.S. 64 from West Memphis to Bald Knob and then on U.S. 67/167 south to North Little Rock. Neither route was likely an ideal alternative in the snow and ice.

Absent the I-40 construction, the alternate routes would likely take longer than traveling on I-40, but they often turn out to be the quicker routes if the I-40 stretch is backed up, Ort said.

Several factors limited the agency’s options in how best to rebuild the lanes and replace two bridges over White River relief channels, while at the same time not adversely affect travel.

Every project is different, Ort said. In some places, a contractor might be able to build a temporary extra travel lane to accommodate traffic.

That wasn’t possible at the I-40 site, he said. That interstate doesn’t have awide median, and the department doesn’t have much right of way on either side of the main lanes, primarily because the roadway slices through environmentally sensitive areas like the White River National Wildlife Refuge and the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge.

In fact, the right of way is so narrow that only one bridge accommodates four lanes of traffic, rather than two bridges.

“That shows you just how tight things are through there,” Ort said.

For the same reasons, the section doesn’t have any interchanges where motorists can exit onto alternate routes if something ties up traffic, he said.

The route typically has a high percentage of big trucks, which also can complicate traffic in a constricted area, Ort said.

The project is 65 percent complete and is expected to be finished by July, he said.

In two years, the department is expected to replace the White River bridge and its approaches on I-40, but Ort said traffic will remain on the old bridge while the new one is built adjacent to it.

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7 on 01/02/2013

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