Interstate 630 (I-630) in

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

is an east–west connector within

Little Rock Little Rock is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Arkansas, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The city's population was 202,591 as of the 2020 census. The six-county Central Arkan ...

. It is also known as the Wilbur D. Mills Freeway and starts at

I-430 Interstate 430 (I-430) is a Interstate Highway System, Interstate highway in Pulaski County, Arkansas, Pulaski County, Arkansas, that bypasses the cities of Little Rock, Arkansas, Little Rock and North Little Rock, Arkansas, North Little R ...

and Shackleford Road as a continuation of Chenal Parkway, traveling east into downtown Little Rock to

I-30 i30, I30, i-30 or I-30 may refer to: *Interstate 30, an Interstate Highway in the southern United States *, an Imperial Japanese Navy submarine during World War II * (1940-1968), a Royal Australian Navy ''Tribal''-class destroyer *I30, a 9000 serv ...

Route description

The highway connects burgeoning West Little Rock to the downtown core. It feeds into I-430, a north–south route which serves western Little Rock.

History

The project was first conceived in the 1930s and was first planned by the Pulaski County Planning Board in their 1941 report. After having many higher powers deny their plans, construction was started by the city of Little Rock in the 1960s as the East–West Expressway or 8th Street Expressway and was not originally an

Interstate The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, or the Eisenhower Interstate System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National H ...

or an Arkansas state highway. In the 1970s, US Rep.

Wilbur D. Mills Wilbur Daigh Mills (May 24, 1909 – May 2, 1992) was an American Democratic politician and lawyer who represented in the United States House of Representatives from 1939 until his retirement in 1977. As chairman of the House Ways and Means Co ...

was responsible for the route's addition to the Interstate System by rounding down the mileage allocations of all other states, then adding the rounding differences to Arkansas's total; this kept the total nationwide allocation within the original limit of . After it was added to the Interstate System, Little Rock initially renamed it for Mills; however, when the Arkansas State Highway Department (AHTD) formally brought it into the state highway system as required by Arkansas law, they removed the name, as their policy at the time prohibited the naming of state highways after individuals. AHTD later changed its policy and readopted the Mills name early in the new millennium. As of autumn 2019, the highway is now named "Gold Star Families Memorial Highway".

Exit list

References

{{3di, 30 6 30-6 30-6 Transportation in Pulaski County, Arkansas Transportation in Little Rock, Arkansas