I-30 Crossing Nears Completion

A worker clears out debris from a section of the new I-30 westbound bridge over the Arkansas River. (Steve Lewis)

The Interstate 30 Crossing project presented a lot of firsts for the Arkansas Department of Transportation.

It was ARDOT’s first $1 billion project, it was ARDOT’s first design-build project, and, thanks to an unexpected sewer line location, it was the first time the department used an innovative glass filler compound in a building project.

After starting in 2020, the first phase of the $1.15 billion project is scheduled to be completed in July 2025. The first phase, which will end with a $633 million price tag, is the highest-profile part of the project, a 6.7-mile stretch from Interstate 530 in Little Rock to Interstate 40 in North Little. The stretch includes an expansive new highway bridge over the Arkansas River.

“The project is progressing well, and we are on schedule,” said Tom Fisher, ARDOT’s alternative project delivery manager and one of the people who oversees the construction for ARDOT.

The I-30 Crossing project is widening the interstate through Little Rock and into North Little. The new 10-lane bridge will replace the original bridge, which was built in 1957 and was deemed inadequate for the 21st century.

The next phase of the I-30  project is scheduled to start in 2026, Fisher said.

It will involve restructuring the interchange where Interstate 40 westbound traffic meets I-30 in North Little Rock, the so-called north terminal of the project.

Another future phase of the project will involve restructuring the interchange for eastbound I-40 traffic merging onto I-30 at the north terminal. Neither of the future phases have finalized costs; it’s safe to say, though, the total price may well exceed the $1.15 billion originally budgeted.

“They’re all pieces of the puzzle,” Fisher said. “The 30 Crossing and bridge is the biggest piece of the puzzle. The river crossing is the major phase.”

Design-Build Contract

The I-30 Crossing is being constructed under a design-build contract, meaning one company won the bid to both design the entire project and serve as its contractor.

The work is being done by Kiewit Massman Construction of Little Rock, a joint venture of Kiewit Corp. of Omaha, Nebraska, and Massman Construction of Overland Park, Kansas. The engineering company Garver of North Little Rock is overseeing the construction as program manager for ARDOT.

Fisher said ARDOT had never used a design-build process for its construction jobs, but the scope of the I-30 Crossing lent itself perfectly to the method. The traditional design-bid-build process involves more steps, which have to come sequentially, and more cooks in the kitchen, so to speak.

“This is the first and only design-build project the department has done to date,” Fisher said. “There are advantages to it. It allows construction to begin as the design is ongoing. For a project of this scope, it gives you some cost certainty. It allows for some innovative methods, a fast-track utility design and relocation. There is more risk taken on by the contractor, and sometimes that leads to more costs upfront. It works better on big projects.”

Earl Mott, Garver’s director of field services and its point man at the I-30 Crossing job site, said the design-build aspect of the construction helped speed the work through several complications. Massive projects in an urban area can be unyielding, but the 30 Crossing work has proceeded as smoothly as one could hope.

“The 30 Crossing is a design-build project, so the speed at which the project design and construction moves is something to behold,” Mott said. “This requires the project schedule to be carefully choreographed as a road map to completion as early design packages move into construction while other project components are still being engineered.

“Proactivity by everyone involved to constantly look ahead and identify and mitigate potential headaches is the only way to minimize them. It also takes the owner, contractor and engineer working together as a unified team to achieve the project goals.”

Aggregate Solution

One of the solutions found on the fly involved a 24-inch sewer pipe that was in the path of the construction of an embankment at the north terminal in North Little Rock.

The options included rerouting the sewer line, which would have been expensive and time consuming, or building a bridge over the line. Neither was an attractive solution. So Kiewit suggested using an ultra-lightweight foamed glass aggregate as backfill material to protect the sewer line.

Fisher said ARDOT had never used the material before, but he knew of its use in states on the East Coast. After some research, the agency decided to use the material, and it was trucked in from Florida.

Fisher said crews used 2,500 cubic yards of the recycled glass material at the fill site to protect the line. It added $450,000 to the cost of the project, but that amount paled in comparison to other options.

It also helps to know that the material works; the next phase of the project will involve crossing the same sewer line again.

“That’s a win-win,” Fisher said. “It’s a product we can use for future projects. All signs show that it was a success. It seems to be performing fantastically.”

The amount of foam glass aggregate used was a drop in the bucket compared to the volume of some of the other materials used in the project. Fisher said the I-30 Crossing project has, to date, used 22,000 tons of steel, 140,000 tons of asphalt, 8,000 tons of rebar and 58,000 tons of aggregate filler.

“Advancements in engineering and improvements in construction methods and materials help to make roads and bridges longer lasting. However, cost has the opposite effect,” Mott said. “If cost was not a factor, roads could be built to last way longer than they do, but it is, so you must compromise striking the right balance between durability and cost.”

More Good News for I-30 Widening in Saline County

The good news continues for those affected by the long-delayed completion of the Interstate 30 widening project in Saline County.

Rex Vines, chief engineer of operations for the Arkansas Department of Transportation, said the $187.3 million project’s completion has been moved up two weeks to early December. The 5.5-mile project will expand I-30 to six lanes between U.S. 70 in Saline County to Sevier Street in Benton.

“We feel very optimistic about it right now,” Vines said.

The project was originally supposed to be completed by November 2022, a deadline that ARDOT extended to April 2023 for contractor Johnson Bros., a subsidiary of Southland Holdings in Grapevine, Texas. When that extended deadline came and went, ARDOT had had enough and began withholding $77,000 daily from Johnson Bros. for its failure to complete the project.

In February, business leaders in Hot Springs complained about the lack of progress and loss of income because of traffic headaches — Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort said it had lost as much as 30% of its business. ARDOT responded by threatening to find Johnson Bros. in default of its contract.

That led to negotiations and much improved work on the jobsite, Vines said. Vines told the Arkansas Highway Commission in April that the contractor had increased work hours on the site by 160% and brought in more equipment to do the job properly.

The commission has deferred a default vote three times since February, Vines said.

“Things have gone very well since whenever we put them on notice for default,” Vines said. “They have really progressed the job quite a bit. We still have congestion and with the constricted lanes, it doesn’t take much to interrupt traffic. All in all, it is going much better.”