Public hearing held on I-30 project

A public hearing Wednesday night was a rehash of familiar arguments for and against the $630 million project to upgrade and widen the Interstate 30 corridor through downtown Little Rock and North Little Rock.

The hearing, held at the University of Arkansas-Pulaski Technical College main campus in North Little Rock, was called to gather comments on a proposed amendment to the longrange transportation plan for central Arkansas. The current plan, which covers 20 years, never took into consideration the overhaul of the congested corridor that the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department is proposing.

The amendment would replace the phrase “operational improvements” with “capacity improvements” in the plan’s description of the project, which regional planning officials say would include “major widening.”

The amendment to the long-range transportation plan is required to allow federal money to be spent on the I-30 project, which is also called 30 Crossing.

Two alternatives being evaluated would widen the corridor from six lanes to eight or 10 lanes largely between Interstate 530 in Little Rock and Interstate 40 in North Little Rock, as well as upgrade the interchanges and replace the bridge over the Arkansas River.

Two dozen people, many of them veterans of the planning meetings and hearings held on the project over the past two years, spoke about the amendment. Most were against it.

“We had comments from the full range, the gamut, of considerations and it was exactly what you expect and hope for in a public hearing,” said Tab Townsell, executive director of Metroplan, the federally designated metropolitan planning organization for central Arkansas.

He attributed Wednesday evening’s “smallish” crowd of about 50 people to a change of venue and rainy weather.