Metroplan amends plan to nail down a wider I-30 through downtown Little Rock and North Little Rock

A map showing the Interstate 30 corridor project
A map showing the Interstate 30 corridor project

The Metroplan board of directors voted on Wednesday to amend its long-range transportation plan to include language better describing the scope of the $631.7 million project to remake the Interstate 30 corridor through downtown Little Rock and North Little Rock.

The vote to add the phrase "capacity improvements" to the plan's description of the project, to reflect that the work is more than just a reconstruction of the section of highway and will include major widening, capped a series of meetings dating from April that served as a platform for the project's opponents and proponents to continue their debate over the merits of the project.

The amendment to the plan, called Imagine Central Arkansas, was necessary under Federal Highway Administration regulations for federal money to be spent on the project. Without it, the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department would have to spend the money set aside for the project elsewhere.

It came as the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department awaited responses from its request for qualifications for contractors interested in competing to build the project, which stretches 6.7 miles from Interstate 530 in Little Rock to Interstate 40 in North Little Rock.

The corridor also includes the I-30 bridge over the Arkansas River, which would be replaced. With an average daily traffic count of 123,000 vehicles, it is the busiest span in the state. The project also includes a section of I-40 between John F. Kennedy Boulevard and U.S. 67/167 in North Little Rock.

Among other improvements, the department also plans to improve interchanges, which will require adding two to four lanes to the six already in the corridor, depending on which of the two prime alternatives is ultimately selected.

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The qualification responses are due Friday, after which the department will evaluate them and come up with the top three in September. Those three contractors will submit their ideas on how to complete the project within the budget some time early next year.

The Metroplan vote was the first of two opportunities for local communities to have a say in whether the project moves forward. The next comes this fall when the project will have to be added to the region's list of projects in its transportation improvement program.

Other work also is being done, mostly by the Highway Department and its consultants, led by North Little Rock-based engineering firm Garver. A draft environmental assessment is expected to be ready this summer and ready for federal approval early next year.

Wednesday's voice vote came on a motion by North Little Mayor Joe Smith. It was seconded by Shannon Hills Mayor Mike Kemp, who said the project was important to his town, a bedroom community of about 3,000 in Saline County.

"We've got to make some tough decisions here," Kemp said after the meeting. "It really comes down to at this point would this be an improvement or would it hurt? What I'm seeing, it's an improvement."

"And what's good for central Arkansas is good for Shannon Hills. Shannon is part of central Arkansas. We're a team player and we want to do everything we can to help bring all of central Arkansas up."

Jarod Varner, executive director of Rock Region Metro, which provides bus service in Pulaski County, was the only board member to speak against the new language. At least one other board member was heard to vote against the amendment, but it wasn't clear who.

Varner said the project goes against the vision outlined in Imagine Central Arkansas, which he said calls for a "balanced approach to mobility" and 'prioritizing funding for pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure, public transit and our arterial network above major highway widenings like 30 Crossing."

He noted that the board already voted to exempt the project from the plan's policy of limiting area freeways to no more than six lanes.

"Allowing an exemption to the six-lane freeway design and approving the major widening of I-30 creates even more disparity among transportation options, tipping our region to invest more heavily in cars and highways rather than in sustainable choices, including public transit," Varner said.

Mayor Mark Stodola said the region didn't have much choice in the matter, considering the Highway Department controls where the money will be spent.

He singled out an alternative championed by 30 Crossing opponents: turning I-30 at the bridge into a boulevardlike thoroughfare. That plan would require construction of an additional Arkansas River crossing, with Chester Street often cited as a potential location for a new bridge.

But Stodola said the Highway Department has declined to provide the money to build a new bridge at Chester, pointing out its evaluation showing it would not attract enough traffic to justify spending $100 million.

Referring to the North Little Rock mayor, Stodola said that "Joe and I don't have an extra $100 million sitting around to build a bridge."

"I wish there was a way to build a boulevard and another bridge," he added. "But that's not going to happen."

Two weeks ago, the Regional Planning Advisory Council voted 8-10 against the staff recommendation on the language. It was the latest vote against the project for the council, which is composed of volunteers appointed by Stodola and other board members. The council's major role is in crafting the long-range transportation plan.

Sybil Hampton, a council member, spoke about the lack of support for the project among council members and their frustrations at their input being ignored in favor of business interests.

"It appears that the vision to move toward ... Imagine Central Arkansas will not be enhanced by the 30 Crossing project," she said, adding that there also has been "no discussion of any process to work toward that vision."

Jeff Hathaway, who represents the Greater Little Rock Chamber of Commerce on the council, said his organization represents 2,000 businesses employing an estimated 140,000 people.

He called the corridor "unique and complex. It has a great need for better access points, more safety, more connectivity to nearby areas and more mobility for people coming into our community. It intersects several other freeways."

Hathaway said he has seen the department and its consultants engage the public over the past three years, make significant adjustments and "continually strive to make this the best possible project.

"I believe it has been a good process."

Both he and Stodola cited other downtown concerns, including the Clinton Presidential Center, the Central Arkansas Library System and the East Village, a mixed-use development that includes the school, as supporters of the project.

Stodola said the council has been important part of the process despite its opposition.

"This process has illustrated that we have very passionate people who love this city," he said. "They just have different ways to get to the end of the road."

Barry Haas, who has been among the leading opponents to the project, said Wednesday's vote wasn't unexpected.

"I thought about speaking against it, but I knew I wasn't going to change any minds," he said after the meeting. "I'm disappointed but I am not surprised."

Haas held out the possibility of litigation over the environmental review, which he said doesn't appear to be as rigorous as it should on a project so significant. Haas was among community activists who successfully opposed in court a Little Rock-backed proposal to extend Rebsamen Park Road 27 years ago. It eventually became part of the Arkansas River Trail instead.

"Sometimes the citizens know better than our elected officials," he said. "In that instance, we had to teach the Little Rock city board members that they didn't know as much as they thought they knew."

Metro on 06/29/2017

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North Little Mayor Joe Smith is shown in this file photo.

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Democrat-Gazette file photo

Barry Haas (left) is shown speaking as Rep. Mark Lowery, R-Maumelle, listens in this photo.

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Little Rock Mayor Mark Stodola is shown in this photo.

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