BENTON, Ark. — On Tuesday morning, more than a dozen tractor-trailers pulled over on Interstate 30 near Benton after blowing tires, which follows dozens of other blowouts and hundreds of accidents in the construction zone over the last year.
ARDOT said it worked with the contractors to fix the problem temporarily, but they also want to look closer at the metal plates involved in the construction.
James Harrison with East End Towing said their company was one of many responding to over a dozen blown-out trucks between Exits 114 and 117.
"It was hook one up, take it and get it to a safe location to where they can get a tire put on," Harrison said. "Go back and get another one. Just one right after the other... truck after truck after truck, right front flat tires because of the temporary drainage cover plates."
And truck drivers like Braxton Hill are worried the next blowout could be theirs.
"If I get a blowout, that can cause a major wreck," Hill said. "I try to stay as far as possible from the right side. That's because I am nervous."
This isn't the first time a line of trucks have been stuck on the side of the road, and witnessing Tuesday's blowouts was nothing new for Harrison.
"It's kind of deja vu," Harrison said. "The same thing happened a few months ago."
We called the contractor, Johnson Brothers, to ask what was being done. The call was transferred to a manager, but we didn't get an answer.
So, we took the concerns to Dave Parker with the Arkansas Department of Transportation to find out what steps are being taken to solve the issue.
"We've had a second incident," Parker said. "We have these plates there because it is a construction zone... those metal plates have got to be watched, installed [and] managed a little bit better."
On top of the flats, the average number of reported accidents on that stretch of highway has more than doubled from 2019-2022 compared to the year before construction began.
"To see 253 crashes since January of last year, January one of 2023, up to today, that's a high number," Parker said.
This stretch of construction is also years overdue. Parker explained on top of other issues, the contractor seemed to have staffing shortages.
"There's frustration on both ends," Parker said. "We certainly want to get the project done. We wanted to get it done the right way."
ARDOT said the contractors are fined over $70,000 daily for the overdue project, hoping it will be finished in late 2024.
However, for drivers like Hill, it can't come soon enough.
"It's about a life," Hill said. "I don't want anyone getting hurt, so that's the main thing."
ARDOT said if you have any damage from the construction site, you can contact them or the contractor.
Parker said ARDOT has also created a new portal to ask questions or send complaints to help drivers get answers faster and keep ARDOT accountable, including questions about I-30.