Arkansas

[Road Hog]

US-63 bypassing Bono in NE Arkansas will be closed Sunday morning from midnight to midmorning for Air Force training exercise.  They'll route all traffic through Bono on 63B.  I'd bet they're landing C-130s from LRAFB in Jacksonville on US-63 for training on off-airport operations.  That would be a cool exercise to watch from a safe distance.  At least traffic should be light on a Sunday morning before church.  They won't be sleeping well Sunday in Bono after midnight with C-130s doing touch and goes off US-63!

https://www.ardot.gov/news/24-248/

I used to live in a place where C-130s from LRAFB flew in formation over my property at a schedule you could set your watch to. And I have never heard of this before.

[MikieTimT]

I live near XNA and see C-130's from LRAFB with fair regularity do touch and goes in a line of 4-5 on the nice big runway they have there before heading back southeast.  One of the main benefits of C-130s over the larger jet cargo planes is short field takeoffs and landings, and a 5 lane "Arkansas freeway" would be not a big deal for them to do touch and goes, or at the very least go-arounds.  Coincidentally, I'm in Seattle visiting my brother right now, and we did a 2 hour Argosy lock cruise that left from Lake Union to go back to Pier 55 in Elliot Bay through the small lock.  They have the Blue Angels practicing over Seattle today, and after we got on the boat to prepare to depart, Fat Albert flew super low directly above us at the dock at South Lake Union.  Couldn't have picked a better day today if I tried for sightseeing as it combined many of my interests all in about 4 hours.

[MikieTimT]

US-63 bypassing Bono in NE Arkansas will be closed Sunday morning from midnight to midmorning for Air Force training exercise.  They'll route all traffic through Bono on 63B.  I'd bet they're landing C-130s from LRAFB in Jacksonville on US-63 for training on off-airport operations.  That would be a cool exercise to watch from a safe distance.  At least traffic should be light on a Sunday morning before church.  They won't be sleeping well Sunday in Bono after midnight with C-130s doing touch and goes off US-63!

https://www.ardot.gov/news/24-248/

I used to live in a place where C-130s from LRAFB flew in formation over my property at a schedule you could set your watch to. And I have never heard of this before.

I've never heard of this before either.  I've heard of interstates originally designed to have long enough straight and level sections to potentially land and take off planes in the event of an attack on the U.S., but never anyone actually practicing it.  Makes you wonder if we're about to deploy somewhere shortly.

Looking at the map of the bypass around Bono, there's only about 1/2 mile of straight N-S road before traffic has to turn off onto US-63B to go through Bono, so that wouldn't exactly lead me to believe they'd be doing full stops on the road and taking off again, but probably touch and goes or go-arounds.  Sunday morning there's liable to be some wide-eyed folks headed southbound forced to turn into the business district of Bono that'll have some incredibly low views of the underside of some planes lifting back off over their roof!

[Road Hog]

Touch-and-gos are more likely. Used to see them regularly on weekends at the Fort Sill airfield. Just never have heard of them on some rando Arkansas highway before.

[Rothman]

US-63 bypassing Bono in NE Arkansas will be closed Sunday morning from midnight to midmorning for Air Force training exercise.  They'll route all traffic through Bono on 63B.  I'd bet they're landing C-130s from LRAFB in Jacksonville on US-63 for training on off-airport operations.  That would be a cool exercise to watch from a safe distance.  At least traffic should be light on a Sunday morning before church.  They won't be sleeping well Sunday in Bono after midnight with C-130s doing touch and goes off US-63!

https://www.ardot.gov/news/24-248/

I used to live in a place where C-130s from LRAFB flew in formation over my property at a schedule you could set your watch to. And I have never heard of this before.

I've never heard of this before either.  I've heard of interstates originally designed to have long enough straight and level sections to potentially land and take off planes in the event of an attack on the U.S., but never anyone actually practicing it.

I expect someone to bring up that myth on FreewayJim, but on here on AARoads I'm wondering what the appropriate punishment should be.

[MikieTimT]

Well, I stand corrected.  It wasn't a touch and go, it was a full stop landing along with a takeoff from a standing start to simulate short field operations in a disaster area.

https://www.5newsonline.com/article/news/local/arkansas-national-guard-lands-c-130-hercules-cargo-plane/527-668e284c-b47e-4a51-a264-df438f10bc95

[Road Hog]

Sounds like this was an actual exercise in case New Madrid lets go. That might be iffy if the pavement is all broken up. Which it might well be in a full-blown 8+.

[MikieTimT]

Sounds like this was an actual exercise in case New Madrid lets go. That might be iffy if the pavement is all broken up. Which it might well be in a full-blown 8+.

I just met a new family at church Sunday.  One of the husbands is in the Air Force there and flew that weekend and landed one of the C-130's and took off again.  Sounds like it wasn't so much a federally sanctioned thing as much as something they did just to prove they could.  Sounds like a fun group to fly with!

[roadman65]

https://www.google.com/maps/@35.7773828,-91.041359,3a,75y,209.19h,99.32t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sV28vR8NDC9TvMyd2T7lsiw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?coh=205409&entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI0MDkwNC4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

Looks like Googlemaps acknowledges AR SH 226 east of US 67 as US 78 now.

[MikieTimT]

https://www.google.com/maps/@35.7773828,-91.041359,3a,75y,209.19h,99.32t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sV28vR8NDC9TvMyd2T7lsiw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?coh=205409&entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI0MDkwNC4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

Looks like Googlemaps acknowledges AR SH 226 east of US 67 as US 78 now.

I drove it last week for a job and it has the shields up as well.  They haven't updated the BGS on US-67 yet.

[Road Hog]

https://www.google.com/maps/@35.7773828,-91.041359,3a,75y,209.19h,99.32t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sV28vR8NDC9TvMyd2T7lsiw!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?coh=205409&entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI0MDkwNC4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D

Looks like Googlemaps acknowledges AR SH 226 east of US 67 as US 78 now.

I drove it last week for a job and it has the shields up as well.  They haven't updated the BGS on US-67 yet.

ARDOT contracts out BGSes separately, so that will be coming I'm sure.

[bwana39]

US-70 from DeQueen to the US-71 split is being widened to four lanes. Utility relocation is ongoing.

South of there on US-71 the 2-laned road is being rehabbed. Not even a hint of expansion.