Next bit of interchange now cleared for traffic

But I-430/I-630 travelers to see delays

State highway contractors work Friday on the eastbound lanes of the Interstate 630 overpass spanning South Shackleford Road. Work on overhead signs today will reduce eastbound lanes in the area to just one.
State highway contractors work Friday on the eastbound lanes of the Interstate 630 overpass spanning South Shackleford Road. Work on overhead signs today will reduce eastbound lanes in the area to just one.

The next finished structure on the Interstate 430/Interstate 630 interchange likely will be opened to traffic today, the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department said Friday.

But the agency announced that the installation of overhead signs and new pavement markings needed to open the portion of the overpass that will carry eastbound traffic above South Shackleford Road. That will require eastbound traffic to be reduced to one lane through the interchange beginning at 6 a.m. today and lasting as long as 12 hours.

The installation of the overhead signs, in particular, will "take a considerable amount of time," said Danny Straessle, a department spokesman. "We're not asking motorists to avoid the area, but they should expect delays throughout the day."

There already was considerable delay in and around the interchange Friday afternoon, well before the evening rush, because of a combination of construction crews ramping up for today's work and commuters leaving work early to get a jump on the three-day holiday weekend to mark Washington's Birthday.

"It's the Friday before the holiday," Straessle said. "There is an inordinate amount of people on the streets of west Little Rock."

For the second time in two weeks, a structure within the west Little Rock interchange is scheduled to open to traffic -- all part of an ongoing $125 million project designed to ease congestion for the 200,000 vehicles that traverse the interchange daily and for the 300,000 that planners estimate will use it in 20 years.

On Jan. 31, department contractors opened a flyover ramp carrying motorists from I-430 north near the South Shackleford Road exit onto I-630 east and a ramp dedicated for other I-430 north traffic headed to Baptist Health Medical Center.

The department has fielded few complaints about those changes, Straessle said.

Today's eastbound lane closure will extend from Hermitage Road and Hardin Drive on Financial Centre Parkway east through Shackleford and onto I-630 to the exit for Baptist Health Medical Center.

Other traffic modifications will take place at the same time, weather permitting, the department said. They are:

• Southbound traffic on Shackleford will be limited to one left-turn lane to access I-630 east.

• Southbound traffic on I-430 accessing I-630 east on a cloverleaf ramp in the southwest quadrant of the interchange will be required to yield to eastbound traffic flowing from Financial Centre Parkway. There will be no merge lane.

In addition, the department will be relocating the temporary exit ramp on I-630 east for Baptist Health.

Traffic will be controlled using barrels and warning signs, the department said.

The next segment in line to open, likely sometime next month, is the westbound lanes on the overpass above Shackleford, Straessle said.

Once today's work is completed, motorists traveling east on Financial Centre Parkway will be able to either go onto the overpass beginning just east of Hermitage and Harding to continue east on I-630 or travel, as in the past, to Shackleford, he said. Motorists who mistakenly head toward Shackleford can still continue onto I-630.

"It will take some getting use to, but people will figure it out pretty quickly," Straessle said. "We're confident of that."

Work on the interchange began six years ago and is expected to be completed this summer.

The project dates to January 2009 when Weaver-Bailey Contractors of El Paso began the first phase with a $17.3 million contract that included construction of an additional lane for motorists traveling from I-630 west to I-430 north, relocating the route motorists use to go from I-430 south to Financial Centre Parkway west.

It also added new traffic signals and made intersection improvements at South Shackleford Road and Hermitage Drive and Financial Centre Parkway and Hermitage Drive.

An $18 million project that began in July 2009 mainly involved modifications for future improvements, with the most significant aspect being removal and reconstruction of the I-430 bridge over I-630.

Planning for the entire project began in 2005 -- 30 years after I-430 opened and 18 years after the interchange opened -- when Bridgefarmer and Associates of Dallas was hired to study the interchange and make recommendations.

The final design includes several flyover ramps between the two interstates -- to replace the existing loops -- and the ramp over Shackleford for traffic between Financial Centre Parkway and I-630.

A section on 02/14/2015

Upcoming Events