U.S. District Judge James Moody Jr. denied an attempt by a group of Little Rock residents to halt a project to widen a section of Interstate 630 in west Little Rock.
Moody said the litigants failed to establish the project would “have a significant environmental impact” and haven’t shown a “substantial probability of success” in establishing that the decision by state and federal transportation to forego more in-depth environmental reviews of the project was “arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise in violation of the law.
“The Court further finds that there will be little, if any, irreparable harm to the Plaintiffs or the public by allowing the I-630 project to continue while the litigation of the case proceeds. Plaintiffs’ evidence regarding irreparable harm focused on air quality caused by the increased traffic on I-630 following the completion of the project. Therefore the request for injunctive relief is denied.”
Work on the project continues, which included the removal of the Hughes Street overpass on Monday night, delayed by a serious of strong weekend storms.
