I-49 in Arkansas

[Road Hog]

The prosperity is very uneven in NWA, I've noticed.

While some cities are booming, others like Greenland and West Fork have languished for some reason, and Decatur (off the beaten path, granted) had to go 8-man to keep its football team. These towns should grow just for the attractiveness of living in a small town.

[bwana39]

The prosperity is very uneven in NWA, I've noticed.

While some cities are booming, others like Greenland and West Fork have languished for some reason, and Decatur (off the beaten path, granted) had to go 8-man to keep its football team. These towns should grow just for the attractiveness of living in a small town.

It sort of is like North Texas. While Farmersville and Melissa are (finally) growing rapidly, Blue Ridge and Trenton are still outside the sprawl. Even Greenville is not growing anything akin to Fate or Anna.  Outside the footprint of the sprawl, small communities in North Texas as well as the rest of the United States (including Northwest Arkansas) are still declining.

[MikieTimT]

The prosperity is very uneven in NWA, I've noticed.

While some cities are booming, others like Greenland and West Fork have languished for some reason, and Decatur (off the beaten path, granted) had to go 8-man to keep its football team. These towns should grow just for the attractiveness of living in a small town.

It will take time, but growth will spill out from the big 4 cities and already has to the towns directly adjacent.  Centerton, Farmington, Goshen, Sonora, Tontitown, Prairie Grove, Little Flock, Bethel Heights, and Bella Vista have all grown greatly as bedroom communities over the last decade.  As prices rise in those areas due to residential inflow, the others will be better bargains for those looking to find cheaper housing.  The issue with Greenland, West Fork, Decatur, Gentry, Gravette, Lincoln, etc. is that their schools aren't as good as the other districts which is important to those with school-age kids, but that will start changing once they get better funded with additional growth from property taxes from those who move to those towns to commute to the big 4 cities and Siloam Springs for work and are unable to find housing in their budget closer in.  Decatur has poultry processing facilities, but those aren't exactly known for high paying work and thus aren't lifting the schools as much as other industries would.  Decatur, Gentry, and to some extent Gravette are dependent on Siloam Springs for work otherwise, and thus really use AR-59 more than they'd use I-49 or one of the highways that intersect it.  Siloam Springs is more of an industrial blue-collar city compared to the rest of the metro area and draws labor in from Oklahoma as much as it does from the surrounding communities.  With a university there, however, I foresee it growing greatly over the next decade, especially as US-412 gets a little more concrete development as an Interstate and a bypass starts being planned.

[Bobby5280]

While some cities are booming, others like Greenland and West Fork have languished for some reason, and Decatur (off the beaten path, granted) had to go 8-man to keep its football team. These towns should grow just for the attractiveness of living in a small town.

The kinds of people who typically want a "small town" living experience and are willing to re-locate to such places aren't in the demographic a struggling small town needs in order to improve. Often it's older adults, empty nesters not far from retirement age. That doesn't do a whole lot to improve a small town tax base, property tax base or work force. Even those adults looking for small town living are going to be picky about the location if they're not simply looking to get the most bang for their buck on housing prices.

Very few young people want to have anything to do with small town living unless they're staying in a small town where they were raised. Here in Oklahoma we have lots of small towns with shrinking populations. These towns are caught in a catch 22 situation. They don't have enough good quality jobs and don't have enough funding for the local schools. In order to have both the town already has to have enough working age adults and a property tax base big enough to pay teachers enough and be able to equip a local school well enough. The locations that do have a good property tax base develop pretty much an unfair advantage and siphon away population from other places.

[edwaleni]

Everyone wants "small town", but no one wants the lack of resources a "small town" can't provide.

What people really want is 5 acres that is within 10-15 min of all the shopping chains, amenities (like movies, sports, etc) and a high school that can support all their programs of interest

Unlimited access to internet and cell phone service. Low taxes and low services costs (well water, septic).

Access to a place of worship where the kids/teen group is more than 7 kids.

Work be no more than 20-30 minutes away, and no traffic or seasonal obstacles to getting to/from there.

Rural residence, suburban lifestyle with access to urban culture.

[msunat97]

My wife and I are looking to move to the NWA area in late 2022.  She grew up 90 miles south & wants to find something outside the sprawl of the big cities in the area.  However, we also want the options of recreation, food, entertainment, etc. that comes with a bigger city.  You all bring up some good points.  How do you find the best value for housing, but have it in a place that is progressing and not fading away?

[edwaleni]

My wife and I are looking to move to the NWA area in late 2022.  She grew up 90 miles south & wants to find something outside the sprawl of the big cities in the area.  However, we also want the options of recreation, food, entertainment, etc. that comes with a bigger city.  You all bring up some good points.  How do you find the best value for housing, but have it in a place that is progressing and not fading away?

Siloam Springs or Gravette probably meets your bill. Farmington/Prairie Grove. All within driving distance of NWA Metro.

[Bobby5280]

It's difficult finding the right balance. Heck some of the small towns around here are suffering simply because their local Internet service stinks. Bigger towns and bigger cities have access to bigger "pipes" and much faster access. The Internet isn't just for streaming Netflix either. Businesses are getting more dependent on good quality Internet access.

[MikieTimT]

It's difficult finding the right balance. Heck some of the small towns around here are suffering simply because their local Internet service stinks. Bigger towns and bigger cities have access to bigger "pipes" and much faster access. The Internet isn't just for streaming Netflix either. Businesses are getting more dependent on good quality Internet access.

Those that have Ozarks Electric as their electric provider also are in the service area for Ozarks Go.  Out of the city limits actually has a better shot at fiber Gigabit Internet now that they have gotten pretty far along with the rollout around the areas south of US-412 both east and west of I-49.  Internet in NWA, even in most of the rural areas, is developing into world class for speed and stability now.  Most of the development is moving west of I-49, so anyone wanting to move to NWA needs to get about 15 minutes further out than what they think they do if they don't want things growing up around them in 15 years.

[Road Hog]

The prosperity is very uneven in NWA, I've noticed.

While some cities are booming, others like Greenland and West Fork have languished for some reason, and Decatur (off the beaten path, granted) had to go 8-man to keep its football team. These towns should grow just for the attractiveness of living in a small town.

It sort of is like North Texas. While Farmersville and Melissa are (finally) growing rapidly, Blue Ridge and Trenton are still outside the sprawl. Even Greenville is not growing anything akin to Fate or Anna.  Outside the footprint of the sprawl, small communities in North Texas as well as the rest of the United States (including Northwest Arkansas) are still declining.

You make a very good point while sort of proving mine.

The DFW-area towns you mentioned are finally starting to grow a little after kind of a slow start. But all of those towns are a good hour's drive from downtown Dallas, and that's if the traffic's good. Another good DFW example is Gunter, which is seeing slow, steady growth. People are moving out there for the cheaper housing, small-town and ranchette lifestyle, and a short drive to the Walmart and Texas Roadhouse. In terms of growth, Gunter is about 15 years behind the pace of its neighbor to the south, Celina.

Greenland and West Fork are similarly close to those amenities. They are maybe 15 to 20 minutes from Razorback Stadium and should be growing at a similar pace to the exurban communities mentioned. I'm not on the ground there, so I can only speculate why they're stagnant: anti-growth city government, small city and school footprints, territory inconducive to development, etc.

[MikieTimT]

My wife and I are looking to move to the NWA area in late 2022.  She grew up 90 miles south & wants to find something outside the sprawl of the big cities in the area.  However, we also want the options of recreation, food, entertainment, etc. that comes with a bigger city.  You all bring up some good points.  How do you find the best value for housing, but have it in a place that is progressing and not fading away?

Sounds like you should spend a few days up here in a VRBO or AirBnB to do some scouting of the area and get a feel for what your areas of interest are like in person.  We've had several folks from other areas of the country do exactly the same thing with our AirBnB.

[US71]

My wife and I are looking to move to the NWA area in late 2022.  She grew up 90 miles south & wants to find something outside the sprawl of the big cities in the area.  However, we also want the options of recreation, food, entertainment, etc. that comes with a bigger city.  You all bring up some good points.  How do you find the best value for housing, but have it in a place that is progressing and not fading away?

NWA has lots of lakes for boating or swimming. For food/entertainment Fayetteville gets the nod, but there is stuff all over.  Housing-wise, the whole area is exploding, New housing can't keep up with demand. IMO, you'd have better luck with the bedroom communities (Greenland, West Fork, Elkins, Farmington). My sister lives in Fayetteville, but the next street over is Elkins.

[razorback0308]

My wife and I are looking to move to the NWA area in late 2022.  She grew up 90 miles south & wants to find something outside the sprawl of the big cities in the area.  However, we also want the options of recreation, food, entertainment, etc. that comes with a bigger city.  You all bring up some good points.  How do you find the best value for housing, but have it in a place that is progressing and not fading away?

NWA has lots of lakes for boating or swimming. For food/entertainment Fayetteville gets the nod, but there is stuff all over.  Housing-wise, the whole area is exploding, New housing can't keep up with demand. IMO, you'd have better luck with the bedroom communities (Greenland, West Fork, Elkins, Farmington). My sister lives in Fayetteville, but the next street over is Elkins.

Pea Ridge is growing too. My parents have retired and moved out there with new subdivisions popping up everywhere.

[msunat97]

Luckily my wife has family in the area.  We will spend some time in the area looking around during the Christmas holidays.  Please keep posting your insights and thoughts.

[MikieTimT]

Luckily my wife has family in the area.  We will spend some time in the area looking around during the Christmas holidays.  Please keep posting your insights and thoughts.

Since your wife's family sounds like they're south of NWA, the Greenland I-49 exit is 5 minutes south of Fayetteville, and West Fork is about 12 minutes south.  We actually looked at very scenic and affordable land off the Winslow and Chester exits just north and south of the tunnel respectively back when we moved out of Bentonville, but would have had to build a house and also would have had kids in some schools that are struggling, so we went west of Fayetteville to get the kids into Farmington schools.

The more affordable areas to buy a home are west of I-49, or south of Fayetteville off I-49 or US-71.  Fayetteville and Bentonville are going to be the more expensive cities with the best downtown districts and nightlife, and southwest Rogers and northern Cave Springs close behind on housing cost, but driving to most everything of interest, unless you like golf and buy a home on one of the courses.  Bella Vista has more golf courses than the rest of NWA put together, so that'd be something to consider depending on how close you wanted to be to family and how much you like golf.  I-49 is generally fairly free flowing even at rush hour now that it's 6-8 laned, unless someone goofed behind the wheel and face planted another vehicle or barrier.

[bugo]

I-49 isn't going anywhere near Horatio. It will cross US 59/70/71/371 several miles east of De Queen.

[bugo]

When I-49 is completed in the Fort Smith area, it will provide a good connection between I-49 south and I-40 east. However, to go from NB I-49 to WB I-40 or from EB I-40 to SB I-49, it will take quite a bit of backtracking. A controlled access freeway from I-49 south of Fort Smith that connects to US 59 east of Spiro, combined with the 4 lane expressway US 59 from Sallisaw to the western OK 9 intersection and the planned US 59/OK 9 expressway to Sunset Corner would make the trip quite a bit shorter. This is something ODOT and ArDOT should start working on.

[bwana39]

I-49 isn't going anywhere near Horatio. It will cross US 59/70/71/371 several miles east of De Queen.

According to the maps that we are seeing now, I would agree. On the other hand I am almost certain that ARDOT has discussed and I seem to remember that it was the most recent LOCAL discussion that the I-49 Little River crossing along  the current US-71 track was a no-go and that they had decided on a more direct path to DeQueen. Maybe they went back to the old routing so they could do loops and not have to build it all at the same time, but......

[Bobby5280]

When I-49 is completed in the Fort Smith area, it will provide a good connection between I-49 south and I-40 east. However, to go from NB I-49 to WB I-40 or from EB I-40 to SB I-49, it will take quite a bit of backtracking.

Are you saying the planned modification of the I-40/I-49 interchange in Alma is going to be missing a couple of ramps? Are there any schematics or other diagrams available?

[bugo]

No, I meant that you will have to go all the way to Alma, which is several miles out of the way. A shortcut between US 59 and I-49 would save several miles.

[Bobby5280]

I think AR DOT needs to work on improving the 4.5 mile segment of US-71 between I-540 and the south end of current AR-549 to limited access. It might involve a few property removals, but I think such a project is do-able. I think the agency will need to do that mainly for the matters of NB I-49 traffic going directly into Fort Smith. It would also be possible for I-49 drivers to use the same segment to take I-540 into Oklahoma where it turns into US-271. They could take that over to Spiro to get on US-59 and then go up to Salisaw. I have a feeling a lot of people driving NB I-49 to WB I-40 will just stay on I-49 until Alma in order to stay on Interstates all the way.

[MikieTimT]

I think AR DOT needs to work on improving the 4.5 mile segment of US-71 between I-540 and the south end of current AR-549 to limited access. It might involve a few property removals, but I think such a project is do-able. I think the agency will need to do that mainly for the matters of NB I-49 traffic going directly into Fort Smith. It would also be possible for I-49 drivers to use the same segment to take I-540 into Oklahoma where it turns into US-271. They could take that over to Spiro to get on US-59 and then go up to Salisaw. I have a feeling a lot of people driving NB I-49 to WB I-40 will just stay on I-49 until Alma in order to stay on Interstates all the way.

There would certainly need to be access roads, overpasses at major crossroads, and exit/entrance ramps onto the access roads on the northern 2 miles of US-71 south of I-540 and also US-71 for a mile south of AR-45 South with the development/access that is currently built up there.  It doesn't look like they'd necessarily have to widen the cut down into the Massard Creek valley from Rye Hill for access roads, but basically run them where the hill levels out on both ends, but probably would eventually require widening the cut for access roads.  That area likely will infill with businesses once  Future I-49/AR-549 construction south of I-40 gets at least Super-2 completion down to Y-City, including the Arkansas River crossing and connection to the north end of current AR-549.

[msunat97]

Finally got to drive the BVB on the way south for Christmas.  That's such a HUGE improvement over taking 71 thru Bella Vista.  After 12 hours in the car, fighting the traffic in Bella Vista always sucked.  The bypass is well worth the $$.

Looking in the future, the ArDOT has their hands full with extending the road across 64 & the river area.  Has anyone seen any proposals for the routing or is it way too early for that level of detail?

[MikieTimT]

Finally got to drive the BVB on the way south for Christmas.  That's such a HUGE improvement over taking 71 thru Bella Vista.  After 12 hours in the car, fighting the traffic in Bella Vista always sucked.  The bypass is well worth the $$.

Looking in the future, the ArDOT has their hands full with extending the road across 64 & the river area.  Has anyone seen any proposals for the routing or is it way too early for that level of detail?

They've had the routing for a while, just not the funding.

[The Ghostbuster]

So there would only be two exits between AR 22 and Interstate 40? Seems about right. Will any rest areas be constructed along future Interstate 49 between Interstate 30 and Interstate 40? I've noticed that a lot of newer long-distance freeways seem to lack them.