430/630 work progresses, still long way to go

The major work along the 430/630 interchange is far from over but with years of work still to go drivers are benefitting from new additions.

With 100,000 vehicles a day passing through, the 430/630 interchange is the busiest in Arkansas.

"It's about time that we're actually getting out here and doing work and we got a lot of work going on," Glenn Bolick with Arkansas Highway & Transportation Department says.  "People that have driven it for years know no matter which way you go when you get to the end everyone gets in the same lane."

Sixteen months in, drivers are noticing progress.  New signs are up for new exits onto Markham and Chenal parkway.  And a new exit ramp coming off I-430 placing drivers at Hermitage and Shackleford is just one part of an $18 million dollar first phase to fix Little Rock's biggest traffic headache.

The Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department is getting the word out about work-zone safety week, which started Monday, and preaching driver patience.

"I think they'd much rather take fifteen minutes to get through an intersection that's under construction and trying to get something done as opposed to sitting in that traffic and there's no construction going on," Bolick says.

Right now the entire project is broken up into three phases.  The first two are active now, the much larger third phase isn't set to start until next year.

"We can see the light at the end of that tunnel, we get it all under construction, the end of it is not too far behind," Bolick says.

Until then, construction barrels will dot your commute through west Little Rock.

Phase one and two of the 430/630 project is set to complete by spring 2011 at a cost of $36 million.  By comparison, the third phase is estimated to cost $100 million and is not set to go out to bid for contractors until late this year.