LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Downtown Little Rock has seen its fair share of construction over the past couple of years, leaving behind piles of dirt as crews make progress on the I-30 Crossing Project.
The project is widening the highway but in doing so it's also cleared up 20-acres of open space in Downtown Little Rock.
StudioMAIN, a non-profit group, is hoping to turn that pile of dirt into something that citizens can be proud of. But first, they need input from those who know it best-- those in the city.
StudioMAIN is a volunteer group of engineers, architects, and others, and now they're asking for the public's input on what this park could be.
That input from the public is something that the group is calling the 'Envision Competition.'
Chris East, president of StudioMAIN, is eager for this open space and believes that this provides an opportunity to help shape the future of Downtown Little Rock.
"I think this could become Little Rock's new Central Park. It's the most visible part of Downtown Little Rock by far," he said.
East said a new plot of open land could mean to new possibilities for the capital city when you place it in the middle of the River Market, near the Museum of Discovery and Clinton Library.
"This is a critical area of our downtown. We're surrounded by businesses and residences. It really needs, I think, the appropriate amount of attention and hopefully this will help provide some of that," he said.
Once East heard the I-30 Crossing Project would remove the interstate's on-ramps and off-ramps leaving behind 20-acres of free space, he knew his team should step in with a vision with help from the community.
"We need to come up with a great plan for what to do with this property before it gets turned over to the city. Otherwise, we're looking at a big pile of dirt in the center of our downtown," he said.
That sense of opportunity is something that's being felt around the city.
Ellen Coulter with the Arkansas Department of Transportation, said they're excited this five year project is creating opportunity.
"Although we won't be managing that green space, we're excited to see what happens with it and to see all the ideas that come from it," she said.
ARDOT's been hard at work and has remained on-track since the I-30 Crossing Project broke ground in September of 2020.
We're currently in phase one which means the Arkansas River Bridge, Downtown's 6th to 9th Bridges, the Broadway Bridge, and the Washington Bridge will all be redone.
"We're gonna make it easier overall to ease the traffic and congestion that can happen in Downtown Little Rock and North Little Rock," she said.
While the project isn't slated to be done until 2025, the detours and inconveniences will all be worth it, according to Coulter.
"Although your typical traffic flow of your commute to work or commute home might be a little bit disrupted due to the I-30 Crossing Project, it's going to be worth it in the end and it's really going to help things long-term for our city," she said.
Coulter said the next phase of the project will focus on the I-30 and I-40 Interchange in North Little Rock.
For all detour information, press releases, and a timeline on the project you can go here for more information.
You can also submit your ideas to the Envision Competition here. Registration opens on April 1 and electronic submissions are due on July 15.