I-430 design plan in west Little Rock calls for 'Texas turnaround'

A map showing a new direction for new interchange
A map showing a new direction for new interchange

Proposed changes in traffic flow on a busy section of Cantrell Road in west Little Rock include a "Texas turnaround" for drivers traveling south on Interstate 430 to use to head east on Cantrell.

As part of that feature, such motorists would first travel west for a short distance, then make a sort of U-turn back to the east.

The feature is part of the alternative that the Arkansas Department of Transportation prefers for better handling traffic flow between Pleasant Valley and Pleasant Ridge roads. The agency has identified that area as the busiest arterial, or noninterstate, roadway in Arkansas.

About 54,000 vehicles travel that section of Cantrell Road daily. Traffic projections put that figure at 76,000 vehicles per day in 20 years.

The department had considered two options for that section of Cantrell Road, also known as Arkansas 10, but last week concluded that the single-point urban interchange was the best alternative because it would move traffic more efficiently than the other option.

The preferred alternative uses a ramp to carry Cantrell Road traffic over the North Rodney Parham Road intersection. In addition to moving traffic more efficiently, it is seen as safer for pedestrians and bicyclists going to Two Rivers Park via River Mountain Road.

The "single point" interchange in the preferred design would be underneath Cantrell Road at North Rodney Parham. One traffic light would help control traffic onto or off of Cantrell Road. Drivers traveling east and west on Cantrell would not have to stop at a light to accommodate North Rodney Parham traffic as is done now, which causes much of the congestion in the corridor.

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The design also would feature a traffic circle north of Cantrell Road and opposite North Rodney Parham that would serve traffic for the Walton Heights neighborhood, River Mountain Road, and a bank and church that face Cantrell.

The Texas turnaround, so named because it originated in Texas, would replace a loop ramp that now moves traffic from southbound I-430 to eastbound Cantrell and would eliminate an element that has southbound I-430 traffic merging from the same lane that eastbound Cantrell traffic uses to access I-430 north. Under the proposal, the loop ramp for southbound traffic would be removed.

"By using the Texas turnaround, you don't have that weaving in and out," said Danny Straessle, the spokesman for the state Transportation Department. "It will be a very, very good solution."

Under the latest design, southbound I-430 drivers wanting to go east or west on Cantrell would use the same off-ramp. The ramp later would split into separate lanes with an elevated ramp taking traffic to Cantrell westbound and a ramp underneath that moving traffic to Cantrell eastbound, where vehicles would merge into the main lanes.

An earlier design took southbound I-430 traffic to a new intersection at Cantrell Road that would have a traffic light, but that option has been removed from consideration, Straessle said.

Casey Covington, deputy director of Metroplan -- the long-range transportation planning agency for central Arkansas -- said it is too early for him to say whether he will recommend the Texas turnaround. But, he said, such turnarounds have worked well at other interchanges, including Interstate 430/Interstate 630 in west Little Rock and on U.S. 67/167 in North Little Rock.

"They may have to drive a little farther, but without a traffic light, you may make better time with that design," he said.

Metro on 09/27/2017

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