IDEAS WANTED: For the development of land cleared of the freeway exit.

The removal of the 2nd Street/Highway 10 exit to Interstate 30 was a blessing and a curse of the 30 Crossing Concrete Ditch. Removal of the exit is one of the major disrupters of the downtown traffic grid and shifts traffic to streets not designed for it.

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But it diminishes the danger to pedestrians and bottlenecks where Cumberland turns into LaHarpe Boulevard at Clinton Avenue and to a lesser degree at Cumberland and Second and Third Streets.

What’s more, the removal of the exit will open up some 20 acres of space between Cumberland and the Clinton Library. The city will have to come up with the money to improve it. And so the question: how will it be improved? Presuming the city has money left over after building a subsidized parking deck for a billionaire.

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To that end, StudioMAIN, a nonprofit that encourages innovative design, announces a design competition:

StudioMAIN is proud to announce the 2022 Envision design competition: 30 Crossing. This competition focuses on
developing ideas and raising awareness for the 20-acre property that will remain after the removal of the spiral I-30 on and off-ramps and the 4-block-long Cantrell interchange between 2 nd and 3 rd Streets in downtown Little Rock. This
property is located in the center of the River Market District, adjacent to the Clinton Library, Central Arkansas Library System’s Main Campus, Historic Arkansas Museum, Museum of Discovery, residential buildings, and businesses.  As part of their agreement with the City of Little Rock, the Arkansas Department of Transpiration will turn this property over to the city as green space for the city to convert to park land, presenting a once-in-a-generation opportunity for the community to help shape what this park land could look like and offer.

Envision 30 Crossing challenges participants to propose solutions that improve pedestrian connectivity, provide space
for a variety of programming, and foster economic development.  In addition to thinking about the green space, we are
also looking for you to provide ideas on how to best active the heavily shaded area directly underneath the interstate.

This is an opportunity to share your big ideas for one of the most visible and heavily traveled areas in all of Arkansas.

The 30 Crossing Envision competition will have three award categories: Professional, Public, and Student. We encourage
anyone who is interested in sharing their ideas about how to use this property to participate, whether you have any
previous design experience or not. Individual participant submissions are accepted, and collaborative group submissions are encouraged.

For more information, please visit www.studio-main.org/envision and sign up today!

StudioMAIN engaged in some of the 30 Concrete Ditch planning and drew some heat over it. It did come up with some ideas for building parks OVER the freeway, but naturally, they were not adopted by the Arkansas Department of White Flight Freeway Construction and Neighborhood Destruction.

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Here’s one suggestion for StudioMAIN this go-round: Seek no help from the state. Also: put the “vehicular amenities” — mentioned with parks, recreation and pedestrians as concerns — low on the list of priorities.

And while you’re at it: Any comments on how to improve that NEW $55 million freeway ramp over the dog park in MacArthur Park and disturbance down to what is currently a quiet freeway frontage road? Maybe leave the city of Little Rock out of this one, too, since they apparently had no problem with the idea.

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Can highway builders just add any new crap to this misbegotten project without an environmental impact review? UPDATE: No, but the highway department insists this ramp WAS part of the original plan, but omitted for a time.

 

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