Interstate 630 in Arkansas

Arkansas

Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...

 is an east–west connector within Little Rock

Little Rock, Arkansas

Little Rock is the capital and the largest city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 699,757 people in the 2010 census...

. It is also known as the Wilbur D. Mills Freeway and starts at Interstate 30/US Route 65/US Route 67

U.S. Route 67 in Arkansas

U.S. Route 67 in Arkansas runs from Texarkana to the Missouri state line in Northeastern Arkansas.-Route description:U.S. Route 67 runs parallel to Interstate 30 from Texarkana to Benton, where it then runs concurrent with I-30 to North Little Rock. It then runs east, concurrent with I-40, for...

/US Route 167 (I-430/US 65/US 67/US 167) traveling west through downtown Little Rock to Interstate 430 and an at-grade intersection with Shackleford Road and Financial Centre Parkway.

History

The project was first conceived in the 1930s, and was first planned by the Pulaski County Planning Board in their 1941 report. After the having many higher powers denying 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

Interstate Highway System

The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, , is a network of limited-access roads including freeways, highways, and expressways forming part of the National Highway System of the United States of America...

 or an Arkansas state highway. In the 1970s, U.S. Rep. Wilbur D. Mills (D-AR) 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' total; this kept the total nationwide allocation within the original limit of 42500 miles (68,397 km).

After it was added to the Interstate system, Little Rock initially renamed it for Mills; however, when the Arkansas State Highway Department

Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department

The Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department is a government department in the U.S. state of Arkansas. Its mission is to provide a safe, efficient, aesthetically pleasing and environmentally sound intermodal transportation system for the user...

 (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. The AHTD later changed its policy and re-adopted the Mills name early in the new millennium.

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.

Exit list