Progress is slow on I-30 project

Dear Mr. Know It All (a compliment): Traveling Interstate 30 through BentonBryant on Sept. 29 there were countless orange barrels but not a single construction worker. How will this project ever be completed? — Benton Guy

Dear Benton: The reference is to a project that has clogged up Saline County since May 2019 and is now expected to be complete by October 2024.

It’s 5.9 miles, roughly from mile marker 110 to 116, the purpose of which is to widen I-30 to six lanes, reconstruct three interchanges, and replace five bridges.

Imagine the number of people who have passed through this gauntlet since 2019.

We asked the Arkansas Department of Transportation to explain the apparent or alleged lack of work. It routed an answer from Aaron B. Peck of Jacobs Engineering.

Peck explained that it’s a matter of where the work goes on and whether the work is visible.

The two hot construction sites now are substructure construction of the new U.S. 70 westbound bridge, with work only visible from the south frontage road west of U.S. 67, and the new eastbound off-ramp to U.S. 67, with work on which is mostly obscured between two structural walls. There’s more.

Peck said an area near the county fairgrounds gives the impression work has stopped. That stretch is ready for paving, but the contractor is currently experiencing a shortage of cement. Once a delivery is made, paving will proceed.

Adding to the mayhem, in our opinion, is that two other projects abut.

First is I-30 rehabilitation, mile marker 105 to 110, with completion expected in late 2025.

Second is I-30 rehabilitation, mile marker 100 to 105, with completion expected in late 2025.

NOTE TO READERS: The great Paul Greenberg believed readers love corrections — they humanize newspapermen. Are we human? Guilty. We have made reference in two columns to the Third Street Bridge near the Capitol. Both times we described it as passing over Interstate 630.

Wrong bridge. The bridge in question, built in 1993-94, passes over railroad tracks northwest of the Capitol.

Making this mistake, twice no less, causes us to question our mental acuity. And our ability to continue writing this thing in a way that makes it useful to longtime readers and sufferers.

This is not the first dumb mistake we’ve made over 17 years. It just seems particularly egregious. A bridge is a humongous thing.

A rule at the Traffic Desk is that when something dumb happens we are required to quote the second note Gen. Dwight Eisenhower wrote for D-Day. The first note was written in event of a successful landing. The second was written in event of failure.

Wrote Ike: “If any blame or fault attaches to the attempt, it is mine alone.”