I-49 in Arkansas

[bwana39]

You guys need to remember. I-49 has a southern leg in Arkansas!

I am not sure these numbers are not the numbers that eventually will be close to the finished ones!

[MikieTimT]

You guys need to remember. I-49 has a southern leg in Arkansas!

I am not sure these numbers are not the numbers that eventually will be close to the finished ones!

I remember that well.  That's why the renumbering of the northern 3 exits was insanity.  Anyway, it's fixing to become more of an issue, because ARDOT is fixing to start movement on the small gap over the Arkansas River.

Highway 22 to Interstate 40 Arkansas River|Interstate 49|Crawford & Sebastian Counties Job 040748 Public Involvement Meeting

If I have any availability Thursday, I might make the trek down to Alma and ask the presenters about it since I can't get answers by email.

[GreenLanternCorps]

You guys need to remember. I-49 has a southern leg in Arkansas!

I am not sure these numbers are not the numbers that eventually will be close to the finished ones!

I remember that well.  That's why the renumbering of the northern 3 exits was insanity.  Anyway, it's fixing to become more of an issue, because ARDOT is fixing to start movement on the small gap over the Arkansas River.

Highway 22 to Interstate 40 Arkansas River|Interstate 49|Crawford & Sebastian Counties Job 040748 Public Involvement Meeting

If I have any availability Thursday, I might make the trek down to Alma and ask the presenters about it since I can't get answers by email.

I watched the video, I had thought that the section from I-40 to to Y City was going to be a Super 2.

However this video seems to imply that the section from I-40 to the current AR 549 at Fort Chaffee will be a full four lane interstate.

[mvak36]

I found a post from 2014 when an AHTD employee posted the proposed exit list. Unfortunately the links all went away once they went to their new site last year. I'll see if I might have saved those files on my personal laptop by chance.

EDIT: I guess I did save them .

[seicer]

A 24 mile stretch without interchanges! I had forgotten how rural it gets down there so I did a Google flyover and it's very sparse.

[MikieTimT]

You guys need to remember. I-49 has a southern leg in Arkansas!

I am not sure these numbers are not the numbers that eventually will be close to the finished ones!

I remember that well.  That's why the renumbering of the northern 3 exits was insanity.  Anyway, it's fixing to become more of an issue, because ARDOT is fixing to start movement on the small gap over the Arkansas River.

Highway 22 to Interstate 40 Arkansas River|Interstate 49|Crawford & Sebastian Counties Job 040748 Public Involvement Meeting

If I have any availability Thursday, I might make the trek down to Alma and ask the presenters about it since I can't get answers by email.

I watched the video, I had thought that the section from I-40 to to Y City was going to be a Super 2.

However this video seems to imply that the section from I-40 to the current AR 549 at Fort Chaffee will be a full four lane interstate.

That video drove me nuts.  Narrator clearly isn't from Arkansas with his pronunciation of Alma and Chaffee.  According to what I read on this site, whether it's a Super-2 or the full 4 lanes for this segment will depend on the funding that is secured in the next 3 years.  They are breaking ground this summer, but it's literally just ROW clearing from the end of the stub up to H St. in Barling along the ROW they already have.  Then, it's a whole lot of nothing for a couple more years other than ROW/engineering.  There really isn't much in the 2021-2024 STIP for I-49 that will get much more accomplished other than engineering and ROW acquisition.  And there's nothing in the STIP for anything south of US-71, so there isn't going to be much progress there at all until after 2024.

[MikieTimT]

A 24 mile stretch without interchanges! I had forgotten how rural it gets down there so I did a Google flyover and it's very sparse.

Not much of consequence between DeQueen and Ashdown.  Wouldn't be too difficult to buy ROW or built the facility down to the Red River floodplain, other than numerous small bridges and the Little River floodplain crossing.

[GreenLanternCorps]

A 24 mile stretch without interchanges! I had forgotten how rural it gets down there so I did a Google flyover and it's very sparse.

[MikieTimT]

It looks like almost 1/4 of the mileage of the I-40 -> AR-22 section is within the 100 year floodplain.  Thankfully, it looks like they are keeping around 20 ft. above ground level when within the blue sections.  I didn't think about it but probably should have growing up south of the Cecil gasfield downriver, there are a metric buttload of gas wells that will need remediation as part of this project as the earthworks will dig up/bury literally dozens of them when doing the roadbed.

[O Tamandua]

Talk Business: ARDOT holds I-49 extension session in Alma; no interchange planned at U.S. 64

[Bobby5280]

Considering the extremely close proximity of US-64 to the I-40/I-49 interchange it is no wonder there would be no interchange planned for US-64. The final ramp design for the modified I-40/I-49 interchange would likely be a 4-level directional stack. The newer 4 ramps for the Southern half of that interchange will be going partially over US-64 immediately South of the interchange.

US-64 is screwed in the other direction by the nearby freight rail line just to the South. That basically eliminates the idea of a half cloverleaf interchange, similar to the one just North at Collum Lane, but with all the movement loops to the South of the US-64 main line. The problem is that railroad is in the way. One could try building elevated ramps high enough to clear the rail line, but with the railroad being so close to US-64 the grade of those elevated ramps would be too steep going down to meet the US-64 main lanes.

Folks driving on US-64 will just have to suck it up a little bit and drive just slightly to the East where US-71 diverges to the North. There's an entrance to I-40 there. They can get on the Interstate there and back-track just a little bit to get on I-49.

[sprjus4]

The final ramp design for the modified I-40/I-49 interchange would likely be a 4-level directional stack. The newer 4 ramps for the Southern half of that interchange will be going partially over US-64 immediately South of the interchange.

A schematic rendering of the complete I-40/I-49 interchange was included in the article, and indeed would have ramps going over US-64.

An interchange with US-64 is not impossible, but would involve likely ramps on the north side of US-64 due to tracks south of the road, and a braided ramp complex. It's questionable how much the traffic volumes that would use such an interchange would warrant an expensive complex interchange design.

[MikieTimT]

I know that there is a push for some in Alma to include a US-64 interchange, but with the proximity of I-40, Frog Bayou, and the U.P. railroad, there isn't logistically enough room for any kind of interchange with I-49, which is still a bridge from the top stack level by the time it crosses it, and necessarily so with the need to also cross the railroad and Frog Bayou.  This wishful addition (who complain it isn't fair to exclude a US-64 interchange since they were part of the push for I-49, like they single-handedly have brought it this far) cannot come at the expense of the ability to actually build 4 full lanes of I-49 between I-40 and AR-22 this decade.  It would only save having to go half a mile down I-40 to the east to the US-71 interchange, which should be adequate for the local traffic needs for decades.  It's not fair either that Arkansas has to pay essentially twice as much proportionally as those who were part of the original IHS, but you have to play the cards you're dealt.  I just hope to live to see 2 lanes of AR-549 from Texarkana to Ft. Smith.

[msunat97]

A 24 mile stretch without interchanges! I had forgotten how rural it gets down there so I did a Google flyover and it's very sparse.

Similar sign on Highway 85 southbound leaving Newcastle, WY...81 miles to next services.

[triplemultiplex]

A four-level stack seems like overkill for this junction.  This has to be the most rural location for one of these in America by a long shot.

[MikieTimT]

A four-level stack seems like overkill for this junction.  This has to be the most rural location for one of these in America by a long shot.

I-49 goes immediately into the Arkansas River 100 year floodplain as soon as it's south of the UP RR, so there is a need for a very long bridge over I-40, US-64, the UP railroad, and Frog Bayou anyway, so how else would an interchange work there?  I'd be interested to see an alternative.

[Plutonic Panda]

A four-level stack seems like overkill for this junction.  This has to be the most rural location for one of these in America by a long shot.

Every freeway to freeway interchange should be a stack. Cloverleafs suck.

[rte66man]

A four-level stack seems like overkill for this junction.  This has to be the most rural location for one of these in America by a long shot.

Because 1/2 of it is already built as a stack.

[Road Hog]

A four-level stack seems like overkill for this junction.  This has to be the most rural location for one of these in America by a long shot.

Because 1/2 of it is already built as a stack.

It's almost like ARDOT planned it that way in the 1980s.

[wdcrft63]

A four-level stack seems like overkill for this junction.  This has to be the most rural location for one of these in America by a long shot.

Because 1/2 of it is already built as a stack.

It might be the only one. Places where two 2dis cross in a rural area not that common. The ones I know have cloverleafs or cloverleafs modified by one or two flyovers (like I-10/I-75 in Florida).

[Bobby5280]

In the case of I-40 and I-49 they're only adding a new "Y" interchange to another "Y" interchange that existed for many years. It's not all that big an extravagance. Judging by the drawing sprjus4 posted it looks like none of the ramps will be wider than a single lane. It's not like urban directional interchanges where you might have 2 or even 3 lanes on a flyover ramp.

[DrSmith]

A four-level stack seems like overkill for this junction.  This has to be the most rural location for one of these in America by a long shot.

I-49 goes immediately into the Arkansas River 100 year floodplain as soon as it's south of the UP RR, so there is a need for a very long bridge over I-40, US-64, the UP railroad, and Frog Bayou anyway, so how else would an interchange work there?  I'd be interested to see an alternative.

You could maybe do a trumpet interchange a mile south of Route 64 and then build a connector back up to Route 64. Although there may not be enough room to the south to construct that depending on where the current next exit south of I-40 is planned.  If there isn't room, a compromise could still be a separate connector road.

[bwana39]

A four-level stack seems like overkill for this junction.  This has to be the most rural location for one of these in America by a long shot.

Because 1/2 of it is already built as a stack.

It might be the only one. Places where two 2dis cross in a rural area not that common. The ones I know have cloverleafs or cloverleafs modified by one or two flyovers (like I-10/I-75 in Florida).

This is not "THAT rural. It is probably less rural than I-20 and I-35E or I-20 and I-45 were in Dallas County were when the stacks were originally built.  Probably about the same as I-20 and US-67 in Duncanville was back in the seventies when it was built or the I-20 -US175 in eastern Dallas County.

This is a good design for traffic flow. It costs more, but the traffic flows better. A reason you avoid stacks further north is ice and snow remediation / removal. Except for just a few days a year, this is not an issue in Fort Smith.

[Bobby5280]

It costs more, but the traffic flows better.

But it doesn't cost any more. Half of the stack already exists. They're only going to add a second Y interchange to an existing Y interchange. Honestly it would be silly and wasteful to take any other approach, such as fully replacing the interchange with something like a pinwheel or cloverleaf design.

You could maybe do a trumpet interchange a mile south of Route 64 and then build a connector back up to Route 64.

That wouldn't provide any advantage over motorists just driving a short distance to the US-71 intersection with US-64, going up a couple blocks and getting on I-40 there.

If anything, AR DOT could add a new exit on I-40 to service US-64 traffic to the West of the I-49 interchange. It is a little strange how there is no exits at all on I-40 between the I-540 interchange and I-49 interchange. They could probably add exit ramps at either the AR-60 or Lost Beach Crossing bridges over I-40. Or build a new exit Pleasant Valley Road.

[MikieTimT]

It costs more, but the traffic flows better.

But it doesn't cost any more. Half of the stack already exists. They're only going to add a second Y interchange to an existing Y interchange. Honestly it would be silly and wasteful to take any other approach, such as fully replacing the interchange with something like a pinwheel or cloverleaf design.

You could maybe do a trumpet interchange a mile south of Route 64 and then build a connector back up to Route 64.

That wouldn't provide any advantage over motorists just driving a short distance to the US-71 intersection with US-64, going up a couple blocks and getting on I-40 there.

If anything, AR DOT could add a new exit on I-40 to service US-64 traffic to the West of the I-49 interchange. It is a little strange how there is no exits at all on I-40 between the I-540 interchange and I-49 interchange. They could probably add exit ramps at either the AR-60 or Lost Beach Crossing bridges over I-40. Or build a new exit Pleasant Valley Road.

I think that part of the reason there isn't any interchanges between I-49 and I-540 from US-64 to I-40 is due to the presence of the weigh station in between enabling overweight trucks having even more of an opportunity to avoid.  A mile to the east for US-71 really isn't much of a burden.