Interstate 630

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Interstate 630
Auxiliary route of the Interstate Highway System

Eisenhower Memorial Highway

Length:

7 mi (11.265408 km)

Formed:

1975

West end:

I-430 west of Little Rock, AR

Major
junctions:

US 67 in Little Rock, AR

East end:

I-30 in Little Rock, AR

Highways in Arkansas
< AR 549		AR 818 >

Interstate 630 (abbreviated I-630) in Arkansas is an east-west connector within Little Rock. It is also known as the Wilbur D. Mills Freeway and starts in the east at Interstate 30, traveling west to the intersection of Shackleford Road and Financial Centre Parkway.

It was started by the city of Little Rock in the 1960s as the East-West Expressway or 8th Street Expressway; it was not originally an interstate, or even an Arkansas state highway. In the 1970s, U.S. Rep. Wilbur D. Mills (D-AR) caused it to be added 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 42,500 miles.

After it was added to the interstate system, Little Rock initially renamed it for Mills; however, when the Arkansas State Highway Department (now Highway & Transportation Department) 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 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 that slices through West Little Rock.