Interstate 630 - History

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 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 42,500 miles (68,400 km).

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. 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.