HomeMy WebLinkAboutMemo Covington to McKenzie on Chester streetISI
METROPLAN
SMART PLANNING MAKES SMART PLACES,
MEMORANDUM
TO: Jim McKenzie
FROM: Casey R. Covington, P.E. and Rebecca Whitney, EIT
DATE: January 2, 2012
SUBJECT: Chester Street Bridge
Currently, the three downtown river bridges in Little Rock/North Little Rock carry 160,000
vehicles a day across the Arkansas River, with 35,000 (22%) crossing along the Main Street and
Broadway arterial bridges. The CARTS Model runs completed by Metroplan and the Areawide
Freeway Study indicate that traffic on these crossings should increase to between 185,000 and
200,000 by 2030, with the downtown arterial bridges carrying 40,000 to 50,000 of those trips.
Comparing the daily capacity of the bridges with existing and forecast traffic volumes, confirms
that additional capacity is needed in the long-term for both arterials and the freeway bridges.
One option for providing additional arterial capacity is to build a new bridge at Chester Street in
Little Rock connecting to Riverfront Drive in North Little Rock, as shown in Figure 1. The
construction of a bridge at this location has the advantage of easily serving the Arkansas State
Capitol Complex, Dillard's Headquarters, and Riverdale Office Park while using existing streets
for connections (avoiding cost of having to build lengthy approaches). While a detailed
engineering study would be needed to determine the precise cost of the proposed bridge, based
upon the bridge length and limited ROW acquisition requirements a planning level cost estimate
is $30 to $35 Million.
Metroplan staff analyzed the potential use of this new connection and has estimated that the new
connection would carry between 15,000 and 20,000 vehicles per day in 2030. The estimated
diversion of traffic resulting from the construction of a Chester Street Bridge is estimated at
+ 9,000 — 12,000 vehicles from the Broadway Bridge,
• 3,000 — 5,000 vehicles from the Main Street Bridge, and
• 2,000 — 3,000 vehicles from the I-30 Bridge.
The Chester Street Bridge would have a great impact on the adjacent river crossings and overall
congestion due to distribution of traffic on the downtown street networks and subsequent
congestion relief at the capacity limiting intersections on each end of the existing bridges.
501 W. Markham Sl., Suite B r Little Rock, Arkansas 72201 2 501.372.3300 a metroplan.org
METROPLAN
SMART PLANNING MAKES SMART PLACES,
Figure l: Potential Chester Street Bridge
501 W, Markham St., Suite B w Little Rock, Arkansas 72201 w 501.372.3300 ■ metroplan.org