Notice to Media

          LITTLE ROCK (11-2) - The Springhill Drive Crossover on I-30 between Bryant and Benton will open to traffic Monday morning, November 5, 2001, according to Dan Flowers, Director of the Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department (AHTD). Plans are to open the new connection shortly after 9:00 a.m. 

            A $6.4 million contract was awarded in late 1999 for the construction of two crossovers on I-30 – the Springhill Drive Crossover and the Vimy Ridge Crossover, located just east of County Line Road. Construction began in early 2000. The Vimy Ridge Crossover should be complete in the spring of 2002. 

Two other crossovers – Chicot Road and Raymar Road – are already complete. A fifth crossover is currently under construction at Highway 5 in Benton. 

The crossovers are a part of the overall plan to improve I-30 from Little Rock to Benton. In addition to the crossovers, work is presently underway to modify the Alcoa Road and Mabelvale West interchanges. Work will begin in early 2002 on the remaining interchanges and the addition of another travel lane in each direction on I-30. All the I-30 improvements will be complete in 2005. 

Also this weekend, the Highway 11 overpass on I-40 near Hazen will be closed to traffic beginning at midnight Saturday night, November 3, and continuing into Sunday, November 4. The overpass should re-open by midnight Sunday. The closure is necessary to allow work on the overpass in conjunction with a $26.4 million rehabilitation project on approximately 13 miles of I-40 from Carlisle eastward.