The 30 Crossing project proposed by the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department seems to no longer be the slam dunk the department had hoped for. Focused on a segment of I-30 in downtown Little Rock, it’s designed to improve traffic flow through the area. The area is experiencing continued growth and could become an urban, walkable experience with even more residents, businesses, and entertainment moving into the area. But that may change with the plans of this highway project.
30 Crossing is the expansion of I-30 from the I-40 interchange to the I-440 interchange. It’s a stretch of freeway I’ve known growing up in Arkansas, even though I don’t think we ever ventured off the freeway to explore downtown Little Rock during my childhood. With new development in the area, that has changed.
Downtown Little Rock, especially the River Market District, is an attractive destination. It’s the start of a true urban experience in Little Rock, barring any major disruptive construction. Currently, the area is anchored by the Clinton Presidential Center and Heifer International to the east, Robinson Auditorium to the west, the Main Street Creative Corridor to the south, and the River Market District to the north. It even has a streetcar/trolley running throughout the district.
There’s new development in the works for some of the areas. A mixed-use project just south of Heifer International’s headquarters could provide catalyst for greater development in what some might view the civic sector of downtown. If it can get past some sticking points, the new Tech Park site will greatly enhance the Creative Corridor along Main.
To be honest, many cities would beg for a downtown district so well defined and with such destinations. Add to this the Arkansas River Trail, a linear park running along both sides of the river connected by pedestrian bridges, and you have not only a destination, but a neighborhood where people can live, work, and play. Those three attributes are what I’ve always looked for in vibrant downtowns.
You find them in downtown Austin where people live in condos north of Lady Bird Lake, work in the offices spread throughout downtown, and play on Second or Sixth Street as well as along the lakeshore. They exist in San Antonio along the Museum Reach, Dallas throughout Deep Ellum, or any other major city in America.
But I’ve also seen the damage freeways can do to urban areas. While the cities listed above all have seen success, they are also constrained by the “Berlin Walls” that either bisect or constrain their downtowns.
In Austin, it’s IH-35 which runs east of the downtown area, cutting the mostly Hispanic east side off from the growth of the central business district. In San Antonio, it’s IH-37 where the historically African-American neighborhoods of the east side can only admire the development of the museum reach on the other side of the freeway. In Dallas, IH-345 separates the artists and musicians of Deep Ellum from the rest of downtown. All three cities are looking at ways to reduce the impact of their “walls,” not expand them.
So, when I see freeway expansion in downtown Little Rock, I have to see what effect this might have on that area. After all, transit solutions should benefit the areas they serve, not stifle them. While some may view I-30 as a quick way to “fly over” downtown Little Rock, others see it as a way to gain access to the area. For the later, that access shouldn’t disrupt the synergy of the area by irresponsibly cutting off walkability or dumping traffic into the middle without easy dispersing it in the area.
Looking at the plans for the project, there are some good components in it. For one, the three interchanges really need to be redesigned. Texas has had some incredible experience with flyovers and I’m not talking about the wimpy one at I-630 and I-430. Flyovers are designed to move traffic from one major highway to another by diverting the traffic early onto the bridge and carrying it enough of a distance to allow traffic to accelerate to the rate of the joining highway before merging.
Along with the redesign of the interchanges, the river bridge needs to be replaced. Over 50 years old, it’s crucial to take advantage of this construction opportunity before Little Rock becomes a national headline. The bridge needs replacement for other reasons such as improving the navigation channel in that narrow stretch of the river. If you think about lane redesign, most likely a new bridge will be in order.
Finally, lane redesign is important. Traveling along the stretch and in the interchanges I find lane changes or moves that are scary at best. In some cases, the changes make no sense at all and seem to have been developed as an afterthought. Just these changes alone will help improve traffic flow and safety.
But in the downtown section around the River Market and presidential library, there’s no reason to create the experience planned which will increase the barrier between east and west as well as dump traffic from the freeway into an urban neighborhood. Would you want freeway traffic dumped in your walkable neighborhood?
There will be more to come as I look deeper into the components of the project, the justification reasons, and the expected impact to downtown Little Rock. I’m not the only one looking at this. Max Brantley of the Arkansas Times has been writing regularly about the project. The Move Arkansas blog is also providing information on the project. More to come on this growing issue.
