NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — The construction on Interstate 30 in North Little Rock feels like it's been going on for years.
New construction could very well make that feeling a reality.
"We're going to be shutting down, I believe it's 141B, the Broadway Street exit," Dave Parker, spokesperson for the Arkansas Department of Transportation (ARDOT), said. "We're shutting it down for about a year and a half as we continue construction on 30 crossing," he continued.
18 months in total.
The exit, which empties traffic onto one of North Little Rock's busiest streets, will close to help expand the highway.
"Change can be a little intimidating for anyone but this is pretty easy," Parker said.
Despite the exit's closing, there are still workarounds.
"We're creating what's called a Texas U-turn," Parker said.
The Texas U-turn runs underneath the bridge that sits over Bishop Lindsey Avenue. This method would help reduce traffic strain and ease the flow of traffic for drivers.
ARDOT will install that to direct traffic that's heading towards Broadway.
For the businesses along the I-30 stretch, this was the first time hearing of the closure.
"For how long?" Melissa Thompson, co-owner of PHD Day Spa in Argenta, said. "18 months? I was expecting maybe a couple of months, but 18 months was a bit shocking," she continued.
After the year they've had, most notably working through COVID-19, it's tough to stay positive about this.
"Just when things are getting back to normal, things are really starting to ramp up down here," she said. "It's just like, now we're going to have this."
Parker said concerns from the community are taken seriously and into consideration when work begins.
"Public input is huge," Parker said. "I mean, we want to hear from people. We want to hear from the business owners. We want to hear from the people who live in those impacted areas."
While this may be a big change that could take some time to finish, Parker said it's the end results that we should focus on.
"In the end when this is 10 lanes in parts, traffic flow will be so much better," he said. "There's some pain that we have to endure, whether you're a business owner or live in this area. But in the long run, it's going to be so much better and this is long overdue."
The new traffic patterns while construction is happening can be found here.