I-49 in Arkansas

[US71]

I-49 has now officially replaced AR 549 from US 71/59 north of Texarkana towards the Louisiana State Line

[dariusb]

Cool beans! Now Arkansas needs to dig their heels in and get 'er done to Ft. Smith. C'mon lets go!

[US71]

Cool beans! Now Arkansas needs to dig their heels in and get 'er done to Ft. Smith. C'mon lets go!

First, they have to find the money.

[robbones]

What are they going to do with the exit 98 on US 71 when the renumbering on I 49 north happens?

[bugo]

Cool beans! Now Arkansas needs to dig their heels in and get 'er done to Ft. Smith. C'mon lets go!

You better hope you live a long time because I know I won't live to see it completed.

[dariusb]

Cool beans! Now Arkansas needs to dig their heels in and get 'er done to Ft. Smith. C'mon lets go!

First, they have to find the money.

Very true.

[US71]

What are they going to do with the exit 98 on US 71 when the renumbering on I 49 north happens?

You mean AR 340? It should never have been given an exit number, IMO.  Hopefully, it will be un-numbered

[adventurernumber1]

What are they going to do with the exit 98 on US 71 when the renumbering on I 49 north happens?

You mean AR 340? It should never have been given an exit number, IMO.  Hopefully, it will be un-numbered

Indeed, it should be un-numbered since I-49 will not be using US 71's route through Bella Vista, but it'll be bypassing it. Speaking of the section of I-49 that will be bypassing Bella Vista, anybody have any updates on it? Looking at Google Maps I can tell there's already a short smidget of freeway numbered as AR SR. 549 at Hiwasse.

[US71]

What are they going to do with the exit 98 on US 71 when the renumbering on I 49 north happens?

You mean AR 340? It should never have been given an exit number, IMO.  Hopefully, it will be un-numbered

Indeed, it should be un-numbered since I-49 will not be using US 71's route through Bella Vista, but it'll be bypassing it. Speaking of the section of I-49 that will be bypassing Bella Vista, anybody have any updates on it? Looking at Google Maps I can tell there's already a short smidget of freeway numbered as AR SR. 549 at Hiwasse.

They are blowing up rock near Bella Vista. There is also dirt work north of the western 549/72 junction.

[bugo]

Why can't it remain Exit 98? What is it hurting to have an exit number? I-49's exit numbers will be in the 200s at this point and there won't be any confusion. Besides, I-49 traffic won't be anywhere near this exit. Numbered exits are always superior to unnumbered exits (I believe all exits should be numbered) and it's been exit 98 for years. Why should you have to say "Take the AR 340 exit" when it's always been "Take exit 98"? Removing the exit number would have no benefit for the traveler, especially the out of towner.

[O Tamandua]

Cool beans! Now Arkansas needs to dig their heels in and get 'er done to Ft. Smith. C'mon lets go!

First, they have to find the money.

Very true.

Dariusb, here's the big difference now:

Back in the 80s, 90s, maybe even the very early 2000s, it was foolish to dream of a completed I-49. (Or whatever the interstate would have been numbered.)

Now, with all that's happened and/or happening, it's ever-more-foolish NOT to dream of it.

[US71]

Cool beans! Now Arkansas needs to dig their heels in and get 'er done to Ft. Smith. C'mon lets go!

First, they have to find the money.

Very true.

Dariusb, here's the big difference now:

Back in the 80s, 90s, maybe even the very early 2000s, it was foolish to dream of a completed I-49. (Or whatever the interstate would have been numbered.)

Now, with all that's happened and/or happening, it's ever-more-foolish NOT to dream of it.

In the 80's, it was a "new and improved" US 71. Fayetteville to Bella Vista was built as a new 71. Alma to Fayetteville was proposed as a new 71. South of there, there had been rumblings of improving 71, but nothing much was done.

[O Tamandua]

Cool beans! Now Arkansas needs to dig their heels in and get 'er done to Ft. Smith. C'mon lets go!

First, they have to find the money.

Very true.

Dariusb, here's the big difference now:

Back in the 80s, 90s, maybe even the very early 2000s, it was foolish to dream of a completed I-49. (Or whatever the interstate would have been numbered.)

Now, with all that's happened and/or happening, it's ever-more-foolish NOT to dream of it.

In the 80's, it was a "new and improved" US 71. Fayetteville to Bella Vista was built as a new 71. Alma to Fayetteville was proposed as a new 71. South of there, there had been rumblings of improving 71, but nothing much was done.

Understood, US71.

Yet in the 80s, FSM/NWA didn't have 802,000+ people between them, plus a few of the world's largest corporations to boot...

[US71]

Yet in the 80s, FSM/NWA didn't have 802,000+ people between them, plus a few of the world's largest corporations to boot...

I have an AHTD Crawford County map from 1969 (?) that showed a proposed extension of I-540 heading north,  so it was in some semblance of "planning" for years. It just took John Paul Hammerschmidt and lots of earmarks to make it happen.

[robbones]

The Greenwood side of I 49 is starting to take shape. Northbound on ramp has the travel lane paved and the traffic lights have been installed.   I would say by spring the road should be open to traffic.

[US71]

The Greenwood side of I 49 is starting to take shape. Northbound on ramp has the travel lane paved and the traffic lights have been installed.   I would say by spring the road should be open to traffic.

Sign posts up yet? They were drilling post holes the week before Thanksgiving? Guess I need to pop down there to look. Barling ramps look paved, but no shoulders yet as of a week ago.

[robbones]

Not yet

[Grzrd]

I'm not sure whether AHTD has confidence that MoDOT will be able to build their section of the Bella Vista Bypass in a few years or whether AHTD simply must honor its Connecting Arkansas Program commitment to Arkansas voters, but nevertheless a slide from the December 17 presentation to the Arkansas State Highway Commission indicates that the final section of the BVB to the state line and the US 71 major interchange to replace the roundabout are scheduled for construction during the 2017-19 time period (page 28/38 of pdf):

[bugo]

What are they going to do with hwy 70 east of Hot Springs?

[US71]

What are they going to do with hwy 70 east of Hot Springs?

http://connectingarkansasprogram.com/corridors/12/highway-70-garland-saline-county/#.VJIwlYfnRcY

[bugo]

What are they going to do with hwy 70 east of Hot Springs?

http://connectingarkansasprogram.com/corridors/12/highway-70-garland-saline-county/#.VJIwlYfnRcY

That doesn't really give much information. Is it going to be a divided highway or an "Arkansas freeway"? Are they going to straighten it out? If it ends up being undivided it will still be dangerous because of all the curves.

Speaking of that area, they need to extend AR 9 to Malvern to hook up with the southern portion. There's no good way to go from EB I-30 to NB AR 9 and vice versa without backtracking. It's a huge missing link in the state highway system.

[codyg1985]

What are they going to do with hwy 70 east of Hot Springs?

http://connectingarkansasprogram.com/corridors/12/highway-70-garland-saline-county/#.VJIwlYfnRcY

That doesn't really give much information. Is it going to be a divided highway or an "Arkansas freeway"? Are they going to straighten it out? If it ends up being undivided it will still be dangerous because of all the curves.

Speaking of that area, they need to extend AR 9 to Malvern to hook up with the southern portion. There's no good way to go from EB I-30 to NB AR 9 and vice versa without backtracking. It's a huge missing link in the state highway system.

Pure speculation, but the picture at the top of the page shows a divided highway, so maybe that is what will go in. We all can hope.

[O Tamandua]

I'm not sure whether AHTD has confidence that MoDOT will be able to build their section of the Bella Vista Bypass in a few years or whether AHTD simply must honor its Connecting Arkansas Program commitment to Arkansas voters, but nevertheless a slide from the December 17 presentation to the Arkansas State Highway Commission indicates that the final section of the BVB to the state line and the US 71 major interchange to replace the roundabout are scheduled for construction during the 2017-19 time period (page 28/38 of pdf):

Grzrd, like I told bugo (I think) earlier: back in the 80s, 90s, very early 2000s, it was pretty much foolish to dream too much about a completed I-49 in Arkansas.

Now, with everything that's happened recently in Miller County plus Louisiana, Missouri and Texas (the latter with the emerging I-69), it's very foolish to NOT dream about the same.

(That being said, they're doing some quirky things on the section just below (Rocky Dell Hollow Road, home of the brand new bridge - to the new west Hiwasse bridge connecting the currently-open 2-lane first stretch of future BVB/I-49).  At both ends, there are four-lane sections paved, two in each way, but the one that won't link to the initial two-lane stretches for multiple block-lengths on the south end, and an approximate block or less on the north.  If I go out there when the ATHD contractors are working and see one I'll ask him; they've been most friendly the few times I've gone to walk there after hours when they're shutting down daily operations.)

[O Tamandua]

Grzrd,

Remember also (and I can't remember where the image is) that the Missouri HTD had a slide that indicated that construction on their final side (Pineville-to-the-Arkansas-line, with at least one interchange on the highway between the Missouri small cities of Jane and Noel) was scheduled to start in 2018 regardless of whether that big highway tax that flopped in August 2014 passed.  All the tax if passed would have done was moved up the scheduled final Missouri I-49 segment start date, not that it wouldn't have been both important and a blessing.  Nonetheless, if their last segment (Anderson-Lanagan exit-Pineville) is any indication, they'll be ready to MOVE on this quickly.

That would dovetail with the Arkansas presentation you linked to above.

In Arkansas, it can be said that we're (and much of the rest of America, plus Canada and Mexico) waiting for the "3 Bs" on I-49:

- The Bypass (scheduled for 2019 at this point)
- The Bridge (linking Alma over the Arkansas River to the soon-to-be-completed Barling-west FSM-north Greenwood segment), and;
- The Big one (Greenwood - Texarkana).

Driving through the NWA metro area as I have the past few days and seeing the growth here in spite of not having a through interstate (or a 4-lane road, now under construction, to the XNA airport, or even a low-cost air carrier), I still think (barring an American catastrophe) that the completed interstate will still be as significant for NWA/FSM as anything Walmart has done to date.

[bugo]

That article indicates that the first part of the US 412 bypass will be opened from I-49 to AR 112. That is probably why the signage plans have "TBD" in a US shield instead of "412".