Notice to Media

Adjustments Made to Great River Bridge Preferred Alternative

LITTLE ROCK (10-26) -- The Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department (AHTD), the Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT) and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) will host open forum public information meetings from 6 to 8 p.m. on Monday, November 1, at the Desha County Courthouse, 608 Robert Moore Street in Arkansas City, Arkansas and on Tuesday, November 2 at the Scott Community Center, at Delta and Pine Land in Scott, Mississippi.

The meetings will allow interested persons the opportunity to view adjustments that have been made to the preferred alternative for a new bridge across the Mississippi River between Desha County, Arkansas and Bolivar County, Mississippi. The adjustments were made as a result of public comments received about the Great River Bridge Study.

Public comments about the study were received at official hearings on Sept. 27 and 28, as well as by mail after the hearings. Many comments expressed concern about impacts to farming operations and residences. Additional comments focused on the potential for complications resulting from groundwater seepage from levees.

Based on these comments, the study team has refined the alignment of the highway approaches leading to the new bridge. The location of the bridge itself remains the same as was shown at the public hearings. Detailed maps of the new highway alignment will be available at the meetings.

The meetings on Nov. 1 and 2 will be open forums – allowing concerned citizens to attend at any time between the hours of 6 and 8 p.m. A presentation will be made at 6:30.

The Great River Bridge study is being conducted by HNTB Corporation on behalf of AHTD and FHWA, in cooperation with MDOT and other cooperating agencies, including U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, and the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks.

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