A section of Interstate 30 in Pulaski and Saline counties is getting a face-lift that will cost $52 million.
The figure was the lowest bid the Arkansas Department of Transportation opened Wednesday on a project to overlay the nearly 16.5-mile section of I-30 between Geyer Springs Road in Little Rock and Sevier Street in Benton, or about $3.1 million per mile.
The work is expected to take about two years.
The department also opened a low bid totaling $18 million for a project to remake a section of Interstate 40 in Pulaski and Lonoke counties.
They were among low bids totaling $99.5 million the department opened on 36 road and bridge construction projects. They included low bids worth $90.4 million for 11 projects on state highways, $3 million for nine on city streets and $6 million for 16 county road projects.
The work on I-30 involves removing the concrete pavement and replacing with an overlay that includes an aggregate base, a concrete surface and an "ultra-thin bonded wearing course."
The contractor also will have to modify two bridges and place a polymer overlay on nine bridges along the route, according to bid documents.
The bid documents also require the contractor to provide several measures to control traffic throughout the work zone. They include an automatic work zone information system, that uses sensors to provide real-time traffic pattern changes to allow drivers to avoid delays.
Up to 104,000 vehicles travel the corridor daily, according to department data.
Other measures include a motorist assistance patrol, variable message signs, vehicle detection system, a public notification system and slightly more than 1,000 orange barrels.
The contractor submitting the low bid was Redstone Construction Group Inc. of Little Rock. Other bidders included Kiewit Infrastructure South Co. of Fort Worth, which submitted a bid of $62.2 million, and Cranford Construction Co. of North Little Rock, which said it could perform the work for $73.2 million.
Work on the $52 million project will coincide next year with ongoing work on two adjoining but more intensive projects on I-30.
Directly to the west of the project is ongoing work on a $187.3 million plan to widen a 5.5-mile section of I-30 from Sevier Street in Benton to U.S. 70.
That project, which will widen the section to six lanes from four, began in 2019. It is scheduled to be completed late next year.
To the east is the nearly $1 billion 30 Crossing project, which focuses on the 6.7-mile corridor through downtown Little Rock and North Little Rock, including replacing the I-30 bridge over the Arkansas River. The western edge of the project is at Interstate 530.
The I-40 project runs 18.4 miles between Arkansas 161 in North Little Rock and Arkansas 31 in Lonoke. The low bid by Cranford Construction Co. was slightly lower than the $18.8 million submitted by Rogers Group Inc. of Nashville, the only other bidder.
Two other contractors who requested the plans didn't submit bids.
Up to 55,000 vehicles -- almost half of them big trucks -- travel that section of I-40 daily, according to department data.