I-49 in Arkansas

[edwaleni]

And... I could see Allegiant making it a base like they have Knoxville and Des Moines. Check out the frequencies to Nashville and Destin this summer from XNA (see apron space)

Don't be fooled by Allegiant Air.  They only have 3 "hubs". Las Vegas, Orlando Sanford and Tampa St Pete.

If you mean by "hub" in that they serve more than 1 destination, that would be about a third of the cities they serve and in many of those, they are the only provider or 1 of 2.

Allegiant is designed to pick up their tent and leave quickly when required, which they do often. They are strictly a point to point operator and provide no connections.

XNA is fortunate in that Allegiant serves both the west and the south vacation spots. But they arrive and leave at different intervals to keep the gate costs down.

St Louis-MidAmerica (Belleville) is a 2 gate airport only served by Allegiant and they produce way more landings there than they do at XNA. And Allegiant would leave that location at the drop of a hat if they had to.

My benefit with XNA is that they have a rental car exchange agreement with Springfield-Branson. You can fly into XNA and leave via Springfield and they won't dump a drop charge on you.

Lastly, with Allegiant, they charge you a web booking fee when using the online store. A fee that can only be avoided if you buy your ticket from a gate agent in advance at any desk Allegiant staffs (if you can catch them at the right time). But watch those gate agents try and squirm out of selling you a ticket for a future flight. They are trained to avoid selling you a future ticket at all costs. Even saying they can't do it (they can). They go to great lengths to get that ticket price appear low.

[Bobby5280]

Air travel totally sucks anymore. The experience isn't any better than riding on an old Greyhound bus. It's just a lot more expensive for all the nickle and dime fees they pile on to that "low" ticket price.

[MikieTimT]

I figure construction on the bridge will be announced before ASA! leaves office. I also figure that the west end of the 412 bypass/access road to XNA gets green lit as soon as Bella Vista wraps up this will magically include it stretching eastward to US 71B as well. If traffic snaps back quick after Covid, XNA's ambitious expansion should be wrapping up 2025/2026. They want up to 26 gates.

I've seen a diagram showing a connection to 71B, but don't remember if it entirely a new road or an extension of something already there. Theoretically,  264 could be straightened and widened.

XNA with 26 gates? That has to be a joke.

But the land around it is getting developed pretty quick.

I still remember laughing when I drove through Cave Springs to get to the airport. My cousin was like "are you sure its out here?"

Land was cheap.

Won't be that way for too long anywhere in that area. Projections show as many as many as a million people in Benton and Washington Counties by mid-century.

It's starting to develop away from the I-49 corridor along the intersecting roads now with all of the out-of-state Covid transplants.  Still lots within city limits with cranes and red dirt everywhere, but also everything is getting snapped up literally within a week of going on sale on the outskirts.  My folks just sold their place and are looking for land to build on not more than 30 minutes from the VA in Fayetteville.  Every time they send me something to go take a look at for them since they're in Florida visiting family right now, it goes off market before my cheap stepfather even has the chance to find a reason to say No to it.  At this rate, they'll be in Missouri, Oklahoma, Winslow, AR, or halfway across Madison County, AR before they return in March.

[Rothman]

Air travel totally sucks anymore. The experience isn't any better than riding on an old Greyhound bus. It's just a lot more expensive for all the nickle and dime fees they pile on to that "low" ticket price.

It's all about the time savings.

[US71]

Air travel totally sucks anymore. The experience isn't any better than riding on an old Greyhound bus. It's just a lot more expensive for all the nickle and dime fees they pile on to that "low" ticket price.

It's all about the time savings.

Which explains why XNA is so expensive.  Flying to Tulsa and renting a car is actually cheaper

[Wayward Memphian]

And... I could see Allegiant making it a base like they have Knoxville and Des Moines. Check out the frequencies to Nashville and Destin this summer from XNA (see apron space)

Don't be fooled by Allegiant Air.  They only have 3 "hubs". Las Vegas, Orlando Sanford and Tampa St Pete.

If you mean by "hub" in that they serve more than 1 destination, that would be about a third of the cities they serve and in many of those, they are the only provider or 1 of 2.

Allegiant is designed to pick up their tent and leave quickly when required, which they do often. They are strictly a point to point operator and provide no connections.

XNA is fortunate in that Allegiant serves both the west and the south vacation spots. But they arrive and leave at different intervals to keep the gate costs down.

St Louis-MidAmerica (Belleville) is a 2 gate airport only served by Allegiant and they produce way more landings there than they do at XNA. And Allegiant would leave that location at the drop of a hat if they had to.

My benefit with XNA is that they have a rental car exchange agreement with Springfield-Branson. You can fly into XNA and leave via Springfield and they won't dump a drop charge on you.

Lastly, with Allegiant, they charge you a web booking fee when using the online store. A fee that can only be avoided if you buy your ticket from a gate agent in advance at any desk Allegiant staffs (if you can catch them at the right time). But watch those gate agents try and squirm out of selling you a ticket for a future flight. They are trained to avoid selling you a future ticket at all costs. Even saying they can't do it (they can). They go to great lengths to get that ticket price appear low.

I said base, not hub.  Allegiant ain't offering connections anytime soon, you know that. Allegiant has been establishing pilot bases at various places for several years now. Des Moines is next up.  It consists of basing at least two Airbuses there and staffing them local as they never overnight anywhere like Southwest does.  It has become a trend as their fleet continues to grow and they simply can't put all their horses in the SFB/LAS/PIE barns. There's like dozens of them now. Frontier is the ones that starts and drops routes left and right. Much more so than Allegiant.

Allegiant is running BNA and VPS at 4x weekly this summer from XNA.  Shoot the are near daily on MEM-LAX/LAS this summer. Allegiant's performance has greatly improved over the past couple of years and they were doing quite well. Retiring those old Mad Dogs helped along with new labor contracts(imagine that).

I don't see them leaving Belleville anytime soon. That is ideal for them.

[Wayward Memphian]

Air travel totally sucks anymore. The experience isn't any better than riding on an old Greyhound bus. It's just a lot more expensive for all the nickle and dime fees they pile on to that "low" ticket price.

It's all about the time savings.

Which explains why XNA is so expensive.  Flying to Tulsa and renting a car is actually cheaper

Not so much on a connecting flight, only on direct flights and you are talking to someone that flys Southwest a lot from Tulsa. New York and Chicago from XNA was cheap. Kinda like Denver from TUL due to United and Southwest.

My son and I are looking at going to LA for in the fall for Hollywood Haunted Nights at Universal because our trip last fall was Covided.  On our dates as of right now for Nonstop on AA from XNA is 35 bucks per passenger cheaper than it is from Tulsa $252 to $287 on the same equipment(E175).

[msunat97]

My wife is from NW Arkansas.  She wants to get back there.  I've started spying homes on Realtor & Zillow.  Properties are moving fast.  Makes me wonder how sustainable the growth is and if the infrastructure plans can keep up with the growth. 

[Plutonic Panda]

Is there any movement on upgrading 412 corridor to a freeway? Oklahoma also needs to get its ass in gear and upgrade their portion to a freeway from Tulsa to Arkansas state line. Arkansas needs to at least connect that with a freeway to I-49.

[MikieTimT]

My wife is from NW Arkansas.  She wants to get back there.  I've started spying homes on Realtor & Zillow.  Properties are moving fast.  Makes me wonder how sustainable the growth is and if the infrastructure plans can keep up with the growth.

The downtowns and around Beaver Lake/White River get snapped up almost as quick as they are posted, unless they are asking well above Zillow's estimate.  If you're looking to come here, I recommend sooner rather than later.  Area is becoming a tourist mecca for mountain biking, so it's not just Wal-Mart/Tyson/JB Hunt anymore, although their money is what's funding the amenities to draw in the younger workforce.  The growth has been consistent and has accelerated over the last 10 years.  No end in sight.  Infrastructure keeping up is certainly a real concern.  The streets of pretty much all of the cities up here are terrible with all of the trenching and patching for utility work.

[MikieTimT]

Is there any movement on upgrading 412 corridor to a freeway? Oklahoma also needs to get its ass in gear and upgrade their portion to a freeway from Tulsa to Arkansas state line. Arkansas needs to at least connect that with a freeway to I-49.

No plans to do anything further with US-412 other than completing the Springdale Bypass and a future Harrison Bypass and sporadic climb lanes across the state.  They blew the only reasonable shot of doing a limited access facility when they 6 laned US-412 through Siloam Springs rather than bypass it to the north like they should have.  Now it's developing that direction, and the terrain to the south with the Illinois River and all of the creeks and hollows that empty into it would be rather rough going.

[Plutonic Panda]

Is there any movement on upgrading 412 corridor to a freeway? Oklahoma also needs to get its ass in gear and upgrade their portion to a freeway from Tulsa to Arkansas state line. Arkansas needs to at least connect that with a freeway to I-49.

No plans to do anything further with US-412 other than completing the Springdale Bypass and a future Harrison Bypass and sporadic climb lanes across the state.  They blew the only reasonable shot of doing a limited access facility when they 6 laned US-412 through Siloam Springs rather than bypass it to the north like they should have.  Now it's developing that direction, and the terrain to the south with the Illinois River and all of the creeks and hollows that empty into it would be rather rough going.

*if* Tulsa ever gets it act together along with Oklahoma and decent growth happens in the metro NWA will have no choice to build some kind of East to west freeway connection from 412 in Oklahoma to I-49. Arkansas is dropping the ball big time on this. If they don't that area will become notorious for bad traffic by 2050.

[US71]

Drove 49 between Bentonville nd Bella Vista today.  Northbound lanes are in various stages of construction from fully paved to awaiting final paving.

All NB 49 traffic has to exit at US 71 North. To go north on 549 or south on old 71, one has to make a U Turn at Peach Orchard Rd. It is, as one would say a clusterf*ck.

Exit signs are finally up at CR 34 (current terminus)

EXIT 289
County RD 34
Highlands Rd (One sign says Highlands Blvd.)

From there, the road looks complete.

I ran out of time so didn't get to Missouri to check their progress.

[Wayward Memphian]

Is there any movement on upgrading 412 corridor to a freeway? Oklahoma also needs to get its ass in gear and upgrade their portion to a freeway from Tulsa to Arkansas state line. Arkansas needs to at least connect that with a freeway to I-49.

No plans to do anything further with US-412 other than completing the Springdale Bypass and a future Harrison Bypass and sporadic climb lanes across the state.  They blew the only reasonable shot of doing a limited access facility when they 6 laned US-412 through Siloam Springs rather than bypass it to the north like they should have.  Now it's developing that direction, and the terrain to the south with the Illinois River and all of the creeks and hollows that empty into it would be rather rough going.

*if* Tulsa ever gets it act together along with Oklahoma and decent growth happens in the metro NWA will have no choice to build some kind of East to west freeway connection from 412 in Oklahoma to I-49. Arkansas is dropping the ball big time on this. If they don't that area will become notorious for bad traffic by 2050.

I've suggested the US 412 Corridor as an extention of I-22 from Memphis to Tulsa using I-555 as well. I like pipe dreams, lol.

My wife is from NW Arkansas.  She wants to get back there.  I've started spying homes on Realtor & Zillow.  Properties are moving fast.  Makes me wonder how sustainable the growth is and if the infrastructure plans can keep up with the growth.

The downtowns and around Beaver Lake/White River get snapped up almost as quick as they are posted, unless they are asking well above Zillow's estimate.  If you're looking to come here, I recommend sooner rather than later.  Area is becoming a tourist mecca for mountain biking, so it's not just Wal-Mart/Tyson/JB Hunt anymore, although their money is what's funding the amenities to draw in the younger workforce.  The growth has been consistent and has accelerated over the last 10 years.  No end in sight.  Infrastructure keeping up is certainly a real concern.  The streets of pretty much all of the cities up here are terrible with all of the trenching and patching for utility work.

Speaking of bikes

https://talkbusiness.net/2021/02/fayetteville-becomes-first-u-s-city-to-receive-bike-city-label/

[Plutonic Panda]

Maybe it's a pipe dream but what isn't is a real traffic issue resulting from no freeway. They should at the very least secure ROW and lease out any homes and businesses until they become closer to being shovel ready.

[rickmastfan67]

EXIT 284
County RD 34
Highlands Rd (One sign says Highlands Blvd.)

284?  OSM has that exit shown as 289, while 284 is the first interchange with AR-72.

[US71]

EXIT 284
County RD 34
Highlands Rd (One sign says Highlands Blvd.)

284?  OSM has that exit shown as 289, while 284 is the first interchange with AR-72.

Couldn't read my handwriting.

[I-39]

Air travel totally sucks anymore. The experience isn't any better than riding on an old Greyhound bus. It's just a lot more expensive for all the nickle and dime fees they pile on to that "low" ticket price.

It's all about the time savings.

Which explains why XNA is so expensive.  Flying to Tulsa and renting a car is actually cheaper

Not so much on a connecting flight, only on direct flights and you are talking to someone that flys Southwest a lot from Tulsa. New York and Chicago from XNA was cheap. Kinda like Denver from TUL due to United and Southwest.

My son and I are looking at going to LA for in the fall for Hollywood Haunted Nights at Universal because our trip last fall was Covided.  On our dates as of right now for Nonstop on AA from XNA is 35 bucks per passenger cheaper than it is from Tulsa $252 to $287 on the same equipment(E175).

Southwest needs to get to XNA ASAP. With all their recent adds, it's got to be a low hanging fruit.

[Wayward Memphian]

Air travel totally sucks anymore. The experience isn't any better than riding on an old Greyhound bus. It's just a lot more expensive for all the nickle and dime fees they pile on to that "low" ticket price.

It's all about the time savings.

Which explains why XNA is so expensive.  Flying to Tulsa and renting a car is actually cheaper

Not so much on a connecting flight, only on direct flights and you are talking to someone that flys Southwest a lot from Tulsa. New York and Chicago from XNA was cheap. Kinda like Denver from TUL due to United and Southwest.

My son and I are looking at going to LA for in the fall for Hollywood Haunted Nights at Universal because our trip last fall was Covided.  On our dates as of right now for Nonstop on AA from XNA is 35 bucks per passenger cheaper than it is from Tulsa $252 to $287 on the same equipment(E175).

Southwest needs to get to XNA ASAP. With all their recent adds, it's got to be a low hanging fruit.

They easily have 7 daily flights on their 737-700s just sitting there with the connections they offer. 7 seems to be the minimum Southwest wants to start a station.

[I-39]

Air travel totally sucks anymore. The experience isn't any better than riding on an old Greyhound bus. It's just a lot more expensive for all the nickle and dime fees they pile on to that "low" ticket price.

It's all about the time savings.

Which explains why XNA is so expensive.  Flying to Tulsa and renting a car is actually cheaper

Not so much on a connecting flight, only on direct flights and you are talking to someone that flys Southwest a lot from Tulsa. New York and Chicago from XNA was cheap. Kinda like Denver from TUL due to United and Southwest.

My son and I are looking at going to LA for in the fall for Hollywood Haunted Nights at Universal because our trip last fall was Covided.  On our dates as of right now for Nonstop on AA from XNA is 35 bucks per passenger cheaper than it is from Tulsa $252 to $287 on the same equipment(E175).

Southwest needs to get to XNA ASAP. With all their recent adds, it's got to be a low hanging fruit.

They easily have 7 daily flights on their 737-800s just sitting there with the connections they offer. 7 seems to be the minimum Southwest wants to start a station.

I could see BWI, BNA, MDW, DEN and DAL started easily.

[rickmastfan67]

EXIT 284
County RD 34
Highlands Rd (One sign says Highlands Blvd.)

284?  OSM has that exit shown as 289, while 284 is the first interchange with AR-72.

Couldn't read my handwriting.

All good.  Just wanted to make sure they hadn't changed the numbering scheme completely for AR-549 there and then we had to change it on TM to match.

[mvak36]

Speaking of the airport, I found this page for the XNA Access Road: https://xnaaccess.transportationplanroom.com/

Looks like they already have a preferred alternative, according to the video at https://xnaaccess.transportationplanroom.com/introduction-video. Estimated cost of $85.6 million.

[Wayward Memphian]

Speaking of the airport, I found this page for the XNA Access Road: https://xnaaccess.transportationplanroom.com/

Looks like they already have a preferred alternative, according to the video at https://xnaaccess.transportationplanroom.com/introduction-video. Estimated cost of $85.6 million.

They'll be moving this right along now. I can see them extending the the bypass as far as needed to build this to the east and them extending it east from I-49 to US 71B. Supposedly a new Amazon DC will be built along that routing. I'm thinking they be a new Dixieland exchange in between US 71 B and I-49.

Air travel totally sucks anymore. The experience isn't any better than riding on an old Greyhound bus. It's just a lot more expensive for all the nickle and dime fees they pile on to that "low" ticket price.

It's all about the time savings.

Which explains why XNA is so expensive.  Flying to Tulsa and renting a car is actually cheaper

Not so much on a connecting flight, only on direct flights and you are talking to someone that flys Southwest a lot from Tulsa. New York and Chicago from XNA was cheap. Kinda like Denver from TUL due to United and Southwest.

My son and I are looking at going to LA for in the fall for Hollywood Haunted Nights at Universal because our trip last fall was Covided.  On our dates as of right now for Nonstop on AA from XNA is 35 bucks per passenger cheaper than it is from Tulsa $252 to $287 on the same equipment(E175).

Southwest needs to get to XNA ASAP. With all their recent adds, it's got to be a low hanging fruit.

They easily have 7 daily flights on their 737-800s just sitting there with the connections they offer. 7 seems to be the minimum Southwest wants to start a station.

I could see BWI, BNA, MDW, DEN and DAL started easily.

We agree that DAL and DEN are no brainers. I know that Southwest flys STL over MDW from Tulsa, Wichita and Little Rock. MDW would be a nice difference in the middle of those two but leads me to believe it would be STL.  As for the Southeast, ATL actually offers a few more southeastern connections than BNA at moment.  Southwest has been growing ATL recently but either would suffice. I don't see BWI from the start but in time. I believe XNA would get either PHX or LAS as well based on TUL, ICT and LIT patterns. I can see Houston Hobby as a  year round or seasonal route due to the Latin America connectionsand Orlando Sat only service be nice but neither  LIT ot TUL has that, so it's a longshot.


As just an observation, Southwest either needs to buyout Alaska or add Anchorage to their map as well.

[rte66man]

Maybe it's a pipe dream but what isn't is a real traffic issue resulting from no freeway. They should at the very least secure ROW and lease out any homes and businesses until they become closer to being shovel ready.

PluPan, you do know the Cherokee Turnpike was built from just east of Chouteau to about 10 miles west of Siloam Springs.  The part between the turnpike end and about 2 miles from the State line could easily be made into a freeway as it was built on a new alignment in the late 70's. Same goes for 412 from Catoosa to the western end of the turnpike. Easy upgrade.  They already have interchanges at OK88 (Inola) and US69 (Chouteau). However, ODOT is moving slower than a snail in upgrading. 

[Plutonic Panda]

Maybe it's a pipe dream but what isn't is a real traffic issue resulting from no freeway. They should at the very least secure ROW and lease out any homes and businesses until they become closer to being shovel ready.

PluPan, you do know the Cherokee Turnpike was built from just east of Chouteau to about 10 miles west of Siloam Springs.  The part between the turnpike end and about 2 miles from the State line could easily be made into a freeway as it was built on a new alignment in the late 70's. Same goes for 412 from Catoosa to the western end of the turnpike. Easy upgrade.  They already have interchanges at OK88 (Inola) and US69 (Chouteau). However, ODOT is moving slower than a snail in upgrading.

Haven't driven it but I did see that on Google maps. It would be nice to see tolls removed but if tolls are what gets it built then I'm all for it as long as a non tolled road parallels it. Oklahoma seems to be fine as long as West Siloam Springs doesn't see some kind of an unexpected development boom.