Arkansas River bridge opening in September

The new Arkansas River bridge is scheduled to open to traffic in September, according to the Arkansas Department of Transportation.

Interstate 30 traffic in Little Rock and North Little Rock will shift onto the new Arkansas River bridge in September. This will enable construction crews to begin demolishing the existing river bridge as part of the 30 Crossing project.

Crews will shift traffic onto the new Arkansas River bridge in three separate phases over several weeks beginning Thursday, Sept. 1.

Once all three phases are complete, the demolition and reconstruction of the future I-30 westbound river bridge can begin this fall.

• Thursday, Sept. 1 (Phase 1): Northbound frontage road traffic will take a new on-ramp at Fourth Street to the river bridge and I-30 eastbound. This traffic on the new bridge can then exit to Broadway Street or continue and merge into I-30 eastbound lanes. In this first phase, I-30 eastbound and westbound lanes will remain in the existing alignment. See map NR 22-199-A for details.

• Saturday, Sept. 10 (Phase 2): I-30 eastbound traffic will shift onto the new river bridge. I-30 westbound will remain in its existing alignment. See map NR 22-199-B for details.

• Saturday, Sept. 17 (Phase 3): I-30 westbound traffic will shift onto the new river bridge. See map NR 22-199-C for details.

To access Broadway Street from I-30 eastbound or I-630, traffic will have to take Downtown Exit 140 to the I-30 frontage road and continue to the 4th Street on-ramp and river bridge. This detour will be in place only during Phase 1.

Various I-30 westbound ramps will open and close to prepare for the demolition of the existing bridge:

• In North Little Rock, the on-ramp at Broadway Street will temporarily close, and a new on-ramp will open at Bishop Lindsey Avenue. To access I-30 westbound, all traffic will take the northbound frontage road to the Texas U-turn at Bishop Lindsey Avenue and the new on-ramp.
• In Little Rock, exit ramps at Second and Sixth streets will close and a new temporary exit ramp will open at Ninth Street. To access downtown Little Rock from I-30 westbound, traffic will take the new exit ramp at Ninth Street.

For more information, go to 30Crossing.com. LL