LR director's reversal clears way for street plan, city says

A segment of Chester Street in downtown Little Rock will be reduced to a single travel lane in each direction with a center turn lane after Ward 1 City Director Erma Hendrix told city officials Wednesday that she is no longer opposed to the plan, according to a city spokesman.

The question of whether to keep the portion of the street from Interstate 630 to Roosevelt Road four-lanes or re-stripe it to a three-lane design for traffic-calming measures sparked debate at Tuesday's Little Rock Board of Directors meeting.

City Manager Bruce Moore told city directors that he had a contracted crew on hold waiting for direction on how to stripe the street, which was recently repaved.

The staff's recommendation had been to implement the three-lane design because the majority of residents who attended a meeting in November about the proposal were supportive. But Hendrix opposed the plan and asked the city to re-stripe the road back to its four lanes.

She said Tuesday that her black constituents who live in the area didn't want the travel lanes to be reduced. Ward 4 Director Brad Cazort said at the meeting that no one city director should be able to make a unilateral decision, and he asked for the entire board to vote on the issue at next week's board meeting.

Luis Gonzalez, the city's marketing and communications manager, said Wednesday that the board vote is no longer necessary after Hendrix changed her mind about opposing the three-lane design.

"We will be moving forward with the proposed plan for Chester Street, which includes a center lane and one lane of traffic in each direction. Director Hendrix also supports this option," Gonzalez said in an email to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

When reached by phone Wednesday, Hendrix wouldn't confirm that she had dropped her objections and declined to comment further.

"If the city told you, repeat what the city said, but I'm not telling you anything. Bye-bye," Hendrix said.

Metro on 05/28/2015

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