Construction can begin on Arkansas’s largest-ever transportation project, and its first design-build undertaking, after a federal judge dismissed local residents’ request to halt work on the $1-billion upgrade of Interstate-30 in Little Rock and North Little Rock.

U.S. District Court Judge James Moody in Little Rock dismissed permanent and temporary injunctions requested by neighborhood associations. They claimed the Arkansas Dept. of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration had not followed federal environmental regulations in its project review and permit.