Highway Officials Mark Completion of $81M Cantrell Road Widening Project

Arkansas Highway Commission member Marie Holder speaks a ceremony marking the completion of an $81 million project to widen Cantrell Road in Little Rock

Officials from the Arkansas Department of Transportation on Wednesday held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark the completion of an $81 million project to widen Arkansas 10, also known as Cantrell Road, in Little Rock.

The project, which began in 2020, aims to ease traffic between northern and western parts of Little Rock and Pulaski County. It brought the first single-point urban interchange to Little Rock.

Designed to help move large volumes of traffic through limited space, the project added a flyover ramp and reconfigured the intersection with Interstate 430.

The project also relocated River Mountain Road, added four new bridges and rehabilitated two existing bridges. Work required I-430 to be shut down for periods of time to install new beams. 

The Department of Transportation was the lead designer for the project. Construction was led by the Kiewit Infrastructure South Co.

The corridor, which handles 59,000 vehicles per day, was officially dedicated as the Thomas B. Schueck Highway. Schueck served as a member of the Arkansas Highway Commission from 2011 until his death in 2020, at which time he was chair of the commission.  He was also the founder and chair of Lexicon Inc. of Little Rock, one of the nation’s largest private steel companies.

Highway Commission member Marie Holder was appointed to serve the remainder of Schueck’s term as chair after his death. 

“Tom’s work on the commission was invaluable,” Holder said at the cremony Wednesday. “His hard work and dedication to the entire highway system in Arkansas is an inspiration to those of us who are now serving the commission. I know that this project, in particular, was near and dear to his heart.”