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I-49 in Arkansas

Started by Grzrd, August 20, 2010, 01:10:18 PM

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bugo

Are they retarded? A roundabout on a mainline interstate?


NE2

Didn't we already discuss this?
pre-1945 Florida route log

I accept and respect your identity as long as it's not dumb shit like "identifying as a vaccinated attack helicopter".

bugo


NE2

pre-1945 Florida route log

I accept and respect your identity as long as it's not dumb shit like "identifying as a vaccinated attack helicopter".

bjrush

Danny Straessel may have the hardest job in Arkansas. Explaining the bonehead AHTD decisions to the general boneheaded public

I hope he makes $150k/year
Woo Pig Sooie

US71

Quote from: bugo on October 24, 2014, 06:39:09 PM
Are they retarded? A roundabout on a mainline interstate?

"Interim solution". Translation: we'll do it until 49 reaches Missouri, then we'll rebuild it all over again :p
Like Alice I Try To Believe Three Impossible Things Before Breakfast

US71

Quote from: NE2 on January 23, 2014, 09:15:25 PM

And where does the bypass go for now? Suburban nowhere.

Gravette, Arkansas: Gateway to Pineville :p
Like Alice I Try To Believe Three Impossible Things Before Breakfast

O Tamandua



Had a little "Hello!" moment tonight.

As Grzrd said, a big (though not yet the "biggest") event for I-49 Arkansas will be in a bit over two weeks when the Texarkana/Shreveport segment is officially opened.  But very quietly another event happened this week, as I discovered.  The third and final Arkansas-side Bella Vista highway overpass (not connected with that roundabout mess / the future BVB/I-49 interchange and the BV/Bentonville line) is now open at Rocky Dell Hollow Road, though obviously it doesn't yet connect fully to the future interstate 49.  I hope it's partially visible in this pic I took an hour ago looking westbound as the sun was setting.

The bridge will be four lanes.  It links on the east side to both of west Bella Vista's main thoroughfares, Glasgow and Highlands.  (Neither of which picks up east of Forest Hills...they each merge about a long block before the gate into the Highlands (what west Bella Vista is called).  East of Forest Hills the combined road becomes Lancashire, which indeed is the primary east-west corridor for the rest of Bella Vista.  Rocky Dell narrows to two lanes about 1/8 mile east of the brand new bridge.  Both Glasgow and Highlands are also two-lane (and winding and narrow at that).  On the west side of the bridge about 1/4 mile, the new road from the bridge dead ends into a perpendicular new road which runs about 1/2 or more of a mile each direction (north and south) before turning back into a dirt road.  Brand new above ground utility lines have been installed paralleling this road, obviously for predicted development at the interchange.

Just another piece of this big puzzle, but I wasn't expecting it to be open.  The concrete for the first two lanes of the BVB south of the bridge is being slowly spread from north to south.

M86

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=He-qx16srSM YouTube - 40/29 News To Go for October 25th

First of all, Highway (Arkansas) 102 only exists west of I-49.  East of I-49, it is US 62.  Was there a AR 102 designation east of I-49?

With that out of that way, did AHTD combine jobs?  The Pinnacle Hills exit to the US 62/AR 102 is enough to give any regular commuter hell.

US71

#1234
Quote from: M86 on October 26, 2014, 12:28:32 AM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=He-qx16srSM YouTube - 40/29 News To Go for October 25th

First of all, Highway (Arkansas) 102 only exists west of I-49.  East of I-49, it is US 62.  Was there a AR 102 designation east of I-49?

With that out of that way, did AHTD combine jobs?  The Pinnacle Hills exit to the US 62/AR 102 is enough to give any regular commuter hell.


Before I-49(aka I-540, aka US 71 Freeway) 102 ran east to N Second St and the junction of US 62 and AR 94, in addition to its trek west to AR 43.
Like Alice I Try To Believe Three Impossible Things Before Breakfast

Grzrd

If you enjoy images of rock blasting explosions, then this TV video about construction of the Bella Vista Bypass should be entertaining:

Quote
Some people living in Bentonville say they are hearing explosions. That's because the Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department is rock blasting in the area as part of the construction on the Bella Vista Bypass.
Adam Jenkins, project manager at Kolb Grading, said construction crews are working on a 6.36-mile section of the bypass. Jenkins, whose company is under contract with the state, said crews are constructing a two-lane roadway between U.S. 71B in Bella Vista and Arkansas 72 southeast of Hiwasse.
"This whole six\-mile section and the other two sections through Hiwasse and Gravette will eventually get two extra lanes on the north side of them for the entire stretch,"  he said.
Jenkins said in order to finish this section of the bypass crews need to take down part of a hill next to Interstate 49 to level the landscape, and they are doing that by blasting it.
"We are quite a ways higher at this point, and that road has to follow a gentle slope for all of the vehicles and traffic,"  he said.  "It has to fall quite a few feet in elevation to get down to the level of Walton Boulevard."

The rock blasting is happening on the west side of McKissic Creek Road in Benton County. Crews said the blasting will continue through the end of this year.

US71

Quote from: Grzrd on October 29, 2014, 01:37:39 PM
If you enjoy images of rock blasting explosions, then this TV video about construction of the Bella Vista Bypass should be entertaining:

Quote
Some people living in Bentonville say they are hearing explosions. That's because the Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department is rock blasting in the area as part of the construction on the Bella Vista Bypass.
Adam Jenkins, project manager at Kolb Grading, said construction crews are working on a 6.36-mile section of the bypass. Jenkins, whose company is under contract with the state, said crews are constructing a two-lane roadway between U.S. 71B in Bella Vista and Arkansas 72 southeast of Hiwasse.
"This whole six\-mile section and the other two sections through Hiwasse and Gravette will eventually get two extra lanes on the north side of them for the entire stretch,"  he said.
Jenkins said in order to finish this section of the bypass crews need to take down part of a hill next to Interstate 49 to level the landscape, and they are doing that by blasting it.
"We are quite a ways higher at this point, and that road has to follow a gentle slope for all of the vehicles and traffic,"  he said.  "It has to fall quite a few feet in elevation to get down to the level of Walton Boulevard."

The rock blasting is happening on the west side of McKissic Creek Road in Benton County. Crews said the blasting will continue through the end of this year.
I've not been around for the blasting, but I've seen where the road is going through.
Like Alice I Try To Believe Three Impossible Things Before Breakfast

robbones

I remember when they were building 49 and hearing all of the blasts while at school

US71

Quote from: robbones on October 29, 2014, 07:04:14 PM
I remember when they were building 49 and hearing all of the blasts while at school


I think it would have been interesting to see the Bobby Hopper Tunnel being built.
Like Alice I Try To Believe Three Impossible Things Before Breakfast

robbones

Quote from: US71 on October 29, 2014, 10:01:22 PM
Quote from: robbones on October 29, 2014, 07:04:14 PM
I remember when they were building 49 and hearing all of the blasts while at school


I think it would have been interesting to see the Bobby Hopper Tunnel being built.

I think they did a story since it was the first tunnel built in Arkansas.

Henry

So it'll be anybody's guess as to when the missing link (from Fort Smith to Texarkana) will be completed. But it's good to see the sections to the north and south of it complete and ready to drive.
Go Cubs Go! Go Cubs Go! Hey Chicago, what do you say? The Cubs are gonna win today!

US71

Quote from: Henry on October 30, 2014, 02:29:56 PM
So it'll be anybody's guess as to when the missing link (from Fort Smith to Texarkana) will be completed. But it's good to see the sections to the north and south of it complete and ready to drive.
All the politicians are running around saying "we need to finish I-49", but I've yet to any of them actually propose anything.
Like Alice I Try To Believe Three Impossible Things Before Breakfast

codyg1985

Quote from: US71 on October 30, 2014, 06:30:29 PM
Quote from: Henry on October 30, 2014, 02:29:56 PM
So it'll be anybody's guess as to when the missing link (from Fort Smith to Texarkana) will be completed. But it's good to see the sections to the north and south of it complete and ready to drive.
All the politicians are running around saying "we need to finish I-49", but I've yet to any of them actually propose anything.

I'm surprised that tolling hasn't been brought up as an option.
Cody Goodman
Huntsville, AL, United States

bjrush

Probably because that would cost more votes than it would gain
Woo Pig Sooie

codyg1985

Quote from: bjrush on October 31, 2014, 07:52:25 AM
Probably because that would cost more votes than it would gain

While that may be true, I don't know if Arkansas voters would be willing to have another tax hike to support building I-49.
Cody Goodman
Huntsville, AL, United States

US71

Quote from: codyg1985 on October 31, 2014, 07:54:37 AM
Quote from: bjrush on October 31, 2014, 07:52:25 AM
Probably because that would cost more votes than it would gain

While that may be true, I don't know if Arkansas voters would be willing to have another tax hike to support building I-49.

It can be done, but would take some creativity & hard choices. Neither of which I see happening in the immediate future.
Like Alice I Try To Believe Three Impossible Things Before Breakfast

bjrush

Quote from: codyg1985 on October 31, 2014, 07:54:37 AM
Quote from: bjrush on October 31, 2014, 07:52:25 AM
Probably because that would cost more votes than it would gain

While that may be true, I don't know if Arkansas voters would be willing to have another tax hike to support building I-49.

Exactly, I dont see either as being popular

Thats why we havent been hearing specifics on the stump
Woo Pig Sooie

O Tamandua


Wayward Memphian

Quote from: codyg1985 on October 31, 2014, 07:54:37 AM
Quote from: bjrush on October 31, 2014, 07:52:25 AM
Probably because that would cost more votes than it would gain

While that may be true, I don't know if Arkansas voters would be willing to have another tax hike to support building I-49.

It's horse manure, they can drive the old US71 if they choose to not pay up. Every person I know would gladly give 5 bucks each way for a interstate from FSM to Texarkana. Just like no one batches about paying 2.50 each way to Tulsa. It's folks that would likely never travel or rarely use it that does the griping along with the constantly whining trucking industry that gives us the governed truck passing another governed truck clusters on I-40.

bjrush

Well really all that matters is the trucks

If they raise hell, they have the power to kill it

I-49 isnt being built for the convenience of people vacationing in NOLA though. This whole thing is about the trucks. They want the road but not if they have to bear the brunt of the cost
Woo Pig Sooie



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