Conway auto transport

Car shipping in the City of Colleges

Conway has three campuses inside a few square miles: the University of Central Arkansas, Hendrix College, and Central Baptist College. Between them they bring in thousands of students, and every fall and spring some of their cars arrive or leave on a truck.

• UCA. The largest of the three, with big parking areas near Bruce Street and Donaghey Avenue. Drivers meet students at an outer lot or at a shopping center on Dave Ward Drive, just south of campus.
• Hendrix. A small residential campus north of downtown that draws students from across the country. The streets beside it are tight, so the handoff usually happens along Harkrider Street.
• Central Baptist. Close to downtown on College Avenue. A nearby church or store lot is the normal meeting place.
• Timing. Mid-August move-in and May move-out are the crowded weeks. A booking made three weeks out gets the best choice of dates.

Parents sometimes wait to see whether a first-year student needs a car at all. If the answer turns out to be yes, January is a calmer time to ship one than August.

Roundabouts and an 80-foot truck

Conway is known across Arkansas for its roundabouts. There are dozens, and the city keeps building more. They move traffic well. They are less fun in a loaded car hauler, which is as long as a semi and cannot hold a tight circle without riding up on the center apron.

The roundabouts on main roads are built with trucks in mind, and drivers get through them. The small ones inside neighborhoods are another matter. Expect your driver to stay on the bigger roads, such as Oak Street, Dave Ward Drive, Prince Street, and Salem Road, and to suggest a parking lot along one of them. From most Conway addresses that is a drive of a few minutes.

Where I-40 meets the road to the Ozarks

I-40 runs along the east side of Conway, with exits at Oak Street and Dave Ward Drive. Little Rock and its connections to I-30 and I-57 are 30 miles to the southeast. Because Conway is directly on the interstate, carriers treat it as part of the Little Rock market, and wait times and prices are close to what you would see in the capital.

US 65 leaves I-40 here and heads north through Greenbrier and Clinton to Harrison and Branson. It is the main road into the central Ozarks, so trucks serving those towns come through Conway first. If you live up 65, the farther north your address, the longer a pickup takes to schedule. Bringing the car down to Conway can speed things up.

Families, commuters, and tech workers

Outside the campuses, Conway is a fast-growing family city. Many residents commute to Little Rock, and the data and software employers that grew up after Acxiom started here bring in people from larger tech markets.

The requests we get reflect that: a second car that needs to follow a relocating family, a vehicle for a new teenage driver, a car bought online from a seller several states away. In the subdivisions of west Conway, cul-de-sacs and homeowners association rules are the usual obstacles. In the older blocks near downtown and Hendrix, it is low tree limbs.

Dates to plan around

Toad Suck Daze, the city’s big street festival, takes over downtown on the first weekend of May, and the streets there are closed to traffic. UCA home football games fill Bruce Street and Donaghey Avenue on fall Saturdays. Commencement weekends in May and December bring every hotel and parking lot in town to capacity.

None of this is hard to work around. Ask for a weekday, and a morning if you can manage it.

North of Conway: Greers Ferry Lake and the hill towns

Conway is the last big stop before the country turns to hills and lakes. We arrange transport for Greenbrier, Damascus, Clinton, Fairfield Bay, and the other communities around Greers Ferry Lake, where a good many owners live somewhere else for part of the year.

For those addresses, think of Conway as the handoff point of last resort. A carrier will go up US 65 for you, but it may take a week to find one headed that way. If you are driving through Conway anyway, meeting the truck at a lot near the interstate turns that week into a day or two.

Conway car shipping routes

Mileage estimates and the usual time on the truck from Conway. Trips east and south begin with the short run down to Little Rock.

Mileage is approximate. Transit times are typical ranges once the vehicle is loaded, not guarantees. Weather, traffic, and other stops on the truck can shift them.

Conway car shipping questions