Future I-49 through Bella Vista AR

[brianreynolds]

Wednesday morning I was traveling US-71 from US-412 to Joplin.  It appears to me that the development of future I-49 through Bella Vista will be difficult, at least from a right of way acquisition point of view.  Dense residential development and the long golf course leave no easy options.  I wonder if it might be best for the golf course to be acquired in its entirety, construct the road, then sell off the excess land.

On Google Maps, if you zoom in a bit on the area around the state line, it is striking how dense the residential development is in Arkansas, the opposite immediately across the line in Missouri.  My interpretation?  The land development laws in Arkansas are probably much less restrictive.

[Brandon]

Wednesday morning I was traveling US-71 from US-412 to Joplin.  It appears to me that the development of future I-49 through Bella Vista will be difficult, at least from a right of way acquisition point of view.  Dense residential development and the long golf course leave no easy options.  I wonder if it might be best for the golf course to be acquired in its entirety, construct the road, then sell off the excess land.

On Google Maps, if you zoom in a bit on the area around the state line, it is striking how dense the residential development is in Arkansas, the opposite immediately across the line in Missouri.  My interpretation?  The land development laws in Arkansas are probably much less restrictive.

On the golf course, to quote Al Czervik,

Country clubs and cemeteries are the biggest wasters of prime real estate! Dead people? They don't need buried nowadays. Ecology, right? Ask Wang. He'll tell you. We just bought property behind the Great Wall. On the good side!

[Henry]

Aside from the forest further downstate, the Bella Vista section will be the most daunting, and probably most expensive, link in the Shreveport-Kansas City Interstate. However, it would be a waste of time not to complete it, despite the fact that lots of development are currently standing in the way.

[Avalanchez71]

Aside from the forest further downstate, the Bella Vista section will be the most daunting, and probably most expensive, link in the Shreveport-Kansas City Interstate. However, it would be a waste of time not to complete it, despite the fact that lots of development are currently standing in the way.

I know that if I lived there I would do a Memphis ala Sam Cooper Blvd on I-49.

[Avalanchez71]

Wednesday morning I was traveling US-71 from US-412 to Joplin.  It appears to me that the development of future I-49 through Bella Vista will be difficult, at least from a right of way acquisition point of view.  Dense residential development and the long golf course leave no easy options.  I wonder if it might be best for the golf course to be acquired in its entirety, construct the road, then sell off the excess land.

On Google Maps, if you zoom in a bit on the area around the state line, it is striking how dense the residential development is in Arkansas, the opposite immediately across the line in Missouri.  My interpretation?  The land development laws in Arkansas are probably much less restrictive.

I was wondering the same thing about the development as well.  I think that if I was a politican just opposite of the state line in MO I would either be doing one of two things, either figure a way to preserve the rural nature of the area or try to figure some of the best practices of the area immeditate to the south into the area.  One wonders if they are working on option one or if they are roadblocked on on option two.

[Grzrd]

Here's a free article:
http://www.thecitywire.com/node/28743#.UfEu4b7D-M8

The first six highway construction projects funded by the "Connecting Arkansas Program"  (CAP) are in Benton and Washington counties ....AHTD Spokesman Randy Ort said the six projects made the top of the list because "they were much further along in the process."  .... Those projects aren't the end of the line for Northwest Arkansas work. A bid on work for I-540 (Highway 264 and New Hope Road) should be let in mid 2015. A bid for U.S. 412 work between Highways 67 and 141, and work for I-540 (U.S. 412 and Wagon Wheel Road) is expected to be let in mid 2017.

edit
This PowerPoint presentation from the July 24, 2013 AHTD Commission Business Meeting contains the entire CAP Schedule and here is a snip of the three Bella Vista Bypass projects (page 47/61 of pdf):

(above quote from I-49 in AR (Bella Vista, Fort Smith) thread)

It appears to me that the development of future I-49 through Bella Vista will be difficult, at least from a right of way acquisition point of view.

My understanding (and the AHTD public information office's understanding per a recent email) is that AHTD has acquired all of the necessary ROW to allow the CAP projects to be let in December/January.  I'm not sure if the possible future construction of toll plazas for the 2-lane to 4-lane upgrade would require additional acquisitions.  MoDOT has been ready for a while and is now waiting on AHTD.

I know that if I lived there I would do a Memphis ala Sam Cooper Blvd on I-49.

I just realized that maybe I misunderstood this thread, i.e. "Future I-49 through Bella Vista AR".  Mainline I-49 will bypass Bella Vista via the BVB; the bypass will not be designated as an I-x49 and US 71 through Bella Vista will remain US 71.  AHTD has historically confused things somewhat by continuing to reference "Future I-49" projects as "US 71" or "US 71 Relocation" projects.  However, as Road Hog noted in this recent post, AHTD may be currently acknowledging Future I-49.

[O Tamandua]

I don't want to be insulting to anyone in any state here, but I think this is what's going on:

1.  The trickiest part is going to be from the East Highway 72 exit in the Hiwasse area (where they've already built a bridge and where the road construction currently ends to the southeast) to linking up at Bentonville/Bella Vista town line near Lowe's.  The terrain is hilly and forested, and indeed there are homes (though far from as packed together as in Bella Vista) throughout that area.  I'm very curious how they'll "rope off" the current north ending of I-540 while this is being built.  Also curious how they'll route traffic on the street ("Peach Orchard", I think) that heads west of Lowes' as it would appear to be dead center of the future construction of this segment.  That, IMO, will be the first most delicate part of this construction...second, as I've said earlier, will be how west Bella Vista is suddenly opened not just to paved road, but Interstate traffic from the west at Rocky Dell Hollow Road.

2.  When growing up in Missouri in the late 60s, 70s through mid-80s, Arkansas always had that "hillbilly" reputation (although Missouri has their share, nothing wrong with that).  When we moved here in 2002, though, one would have thought Bentonville/Bella Vista and McDonald County, MO (where this bypass will join I-49 north, and what is directly north of Bentonville/BV) were as similar as the United Kingdom and Albania. (Again, not trying to put down anyone).

Bentonville/Northwest Arkansas is becoming the Orlando/Las Vegas of the business world, and the first BIG move in waves happened in the early 2000s.  At the time, people were being discouraged from moving north of the border.  The school systems, for one, were said to be light years different.

Now, Bentonville High School is starting next week with 4,200 kids.  McDonald County High has something like 1,100 but some were expecting it to grow as big as BHS some day.  But I'd say the school system difference was the big factor in having such a population differential between the states in this area.  (the full western half of Bella Vista, plus the land just west of that where the bypass will run at the State line, is in the Gravette school district, which has been the beneficiary of money from retirees on the west side of BV and is in good shape now, too).  LOTS of money in the Arkansas school districts in this corner, though significant middle and lower-class populations as well.

3.  McDonald County at Jane, MO just north of Bella Vista has started to grow, significantly, but it's all businesses right now, plus a new satellite community college.  All of this development is along current U.S. 71.

4.  Bella Vista maps can be deceiving, as many of the streets you see are undeveloped courts and cul-de-sacs.  That said, there are 25,000 plus here.  However, BV will largely be untouched, and the area to the west where the Rocky Dell Hollow interchange and state line crossing will be is land that, as I understand, is owned either by the city or its developers for future use (and was purchased at least a decade plus years back), and it itself pretty much virgin terrain save for a few dirt roads, mainly through sections of wood or outright forest.  The people I talked about before who are in that "tricky" stretch of hilly land between the 72 East exit and the I-540 northern terminus all have Bentonville mailing addresses, pretty much.

[brianreynolds]

I found this about the Bella Vista by-pass.

http://bellavistaarkansas.org/bella-vista-bypass.html

[Avalanchez71]

News Flash!

Winnipeg and New Orleans are already connected via road and rail.

[O Tamandua]

News Flash!

Winnipeg and New Orleans are already connected via road and rail.

Indeed...but the shortest route by rail is the original Arthur Stilwell Kansas City Southern mainline, which is really never separated by more than 30 miles as the crow flies from this I-49 corridor all the way from Kansas City to New Orleans (and will be close to the I-69 corridor from Shreveport/Texarkana to Houston).  Old Art had a pretty good idea that Old Sam is finally catching onto.

Good find on the Bella Vista map/page.