SALINE COUNTY, Ark. — It was only a few months ago when officials with the Arkansas Department of Transportation (ARDOT) began to work on the final phase of the I-30 widening project in Saline County.
Since then, drivers have expressed their frustrations about traveling through the construction along Interstate 30 as being a nightmare.
"I understand every complaint we got, all the frustrations, you know, and I would say that most of those, you know, we and the contractor deserve," said Dave Parker with ARDOT.
A project that was estimated to take three years to complete quickly turned into five.
However, Parker said those delays and difficulties eventually led to a change.
"It started in 2019. I think the original estimated completion date was Nov. 2022 [and] clearly, we didn't hit that.," Parker said. "This past year we had reached a point in the project where we were not satisfied. We were not happy with the progress of the work. It had been delayed a couple of times."
Officials decided to widen the interstate to reduce congestion and make it a little safer for drivers.
Now, when Arkansans drive along I-30, they'll see that there are six lanes.
Once ARDOT officials and the respective contractors came to an agreement, things began to move faster.
"People started to see, wow, this is really going to be a nice stretch of road. New concrete, new road to drive on. And they saw the payoff. It just took a while to get there," Parker said.
A few months later, Parker said that they're now close to the finish line but there's still work to be done.
"The contractor still has to install some overhead signage, some digital message boards need to be put in place along that stretch. There needs to be some grass and sod work done, touch-up type things. There will be a couple of areas that need to, kind of the roadway needs to be torn up, if you will, and repaved," Parker said.
While bright orange cones along the interstate are still present, Parker is confident they won't be there for much longer.
"New year will bring great, new things to Saline County widening," Parker said.
Officials have determined a substantial completion date of early to mid-January.