University Avenue decommissioned, AR 5 truncated, US 70 relocated

[bugo]

I was looking at some maps and noticed that on several of the newest maps at the ArDOT website that US 70 has been removed from University Avenue in Little Rock and rerouted along  Col. Glenn Road, Stagecoach Road and I-430. AR 5 has apparently been truncated to the new US 70 intersection at Stagecoach and Col. Glenn. This restores a section of US 70 back on the original US 67-70 alignment along Col. Glenn Road and Stagecoach Road. Has anybody been to this part of town lately, and have the signs been changed?

[froggie]

Are you sure that's mainline US 70 and not US 70B?  Mainline US 70 is signed along I-30 all through Little Rock and the University exit off I-30 is signed as US 70B.

Tho given the absolutely abysmal state of US signage in Arkansas to begin with, who knows what's going on...

[NE2]

Internally it is US 70, section 12. US 70B would be section 12B.

[bugo]

US 70B was changed to US 70 somewhere around 20 years ago.

[capt.ron]

The US 70 signage has been recently changed along I-30. I remember seeing 'US 70" on an overhead sign along I-30 at the University Ave interchange. It used to state "70B".

[bugo]

The 70B sign on I-30 is an error. So is (was?) the overhead sign on EB I-30 that has US 67 and 70 shields.

[The Ghostbuster]

Wasn't AR 5 originally part of US 70's alignment between Hot Springs and Little Rock once-upon-a-time?

[Mapmikey]

The changes shown by the OP were made in Dec 2020.

See page 11 - https://www.ardot.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Admin-Cir.-2021-02-Minutes-of-the-Dec.-9-AHC-Meeting.pdf

[capt.ron]

Wasn't AR 5 originally part of US 70's alignment between Hot Springs and Little Rock once-upon-a-time?

Yes it was. It's funny how it came to be. The route that US 70 would eventually take used to be signed as AR 88, according to a 1955 Arkansas Highway map. It was drawn as alternating black / white which tells me either it was in unimproved paved road or a graded gravel road. So once they widened the road and paved it, it became US 70.
I'm guessing that when they began to work on what would be I-30, they would move the US 70 alignment from its old one to what was AR 88, since it was less curvy and more direct than old 70 (now AR 5). I don't know exactly when the new at the time 4 lane opened up from what was AR 88 to University Avenue but I'm guessing late 1950's.

[bugo]

This is an excerpt from the 1959 Arkansas highway map. Note that part of old AR 88 is shown on this map but is unlabeled.

[Avalanchez71]

Was the catalyst the city wanting to control University Blvd?  I see it appears that more surface road mileage is given to US 70.  They did the same thing in Greensboro, NC as well.  They gave surface road mileage back to US 70.

[Mapmikey]

Was the catalyst the city wanting to control University Blvd?  I see it appears that more surface road mileage is given to US 70.  They did the same thing in Greensboro, NC as well.  They gave surface road mileage back to US 70.

Read the entirety of the ARDOT minutes entry for the change. It explains why.