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Quote from: silverback1065 on May 06, 2022, 02:36:24 PMis 71 still going to be on its own alignment across the state line with missouri? From Bella Vista/ Exit 93 to MM 5 near Pineville, MO , US 71 is solo
is 71 still going to be on its own alignment across the state line with missouri?
Well over half of the population of Arkansas lives in metro Little Rock or NWA. Jonesboro is the one significant place out side of those two areas with over 40K. Even with its geographically outsized favor in transportation spending, it actually is less per capita in those areas than in a lot of more rural areas. Before the 2000's virtually everything revolved around Little Rock. When Huckabee became governor, that changed some. About the same time, NWA started to transition from a group of small town to a metropolitan area. After Huckabee left the Governor's Mansion (Triple Wide Trailer) it transitioned back to the the population centers. KRA had lost its seeming exclusivity, but rural Arkansas was once again Rural Arkansas.
Quote from: bwana39 on May 06, 2022, 10:40:04 AMWell over half of the population of Arkansas lives in metro Little Rock or NWA. Jonesboro is the one significant place out side of those two areas with over 40K. Even with its geographically outsized favor in transportation spending, it actually is less per capita in those areas than in a lot of more rural areas. Before the 2000's virtually everything revolved around Little Rock. When Huckabee became governor, that changed some. About the same time, NWA started to transition from a group of small town to a metropolitan area. After Huckabee left the Governor's Mansion (Triple Wide Trailer) it transitioned back to the the population centers. KRA had lost its seeming exclusivity, but rural Arkansas was once again Rural Arkansas.When Huckabee was governor, NWA was the epicenter of his Republican base and he had to cater to them. Then Mike Beebe (from Searcy) took over and US 67 became his driveway. Now Asa Hutchinson is governor and he is from NWA, but the whole state flipped Republican and now he has to spread the booty across the whole state.
Quote from: Road Hog on May 07, 2022, 01:00:35 AMQuote from: bwana39 on May 06, 2022, 10:40:04 AMWell over half of the population of Arkansas lives in metro Little Rock or NWA. Jonesboro is the one significant place out side of those two areas with over 40K. Even with its geographically outsized favor in transportation spending, it actually is less per capita in those areas than in a lot of more rural areas. Before the 2000's virtually everything revolved around Little Rock. When Huckabee became governor, that changed some. About the same time, NWA started to transition from a group of small town to a metropolitan area. After Huckabee left the Governor's Mansion (Triple Wide Trailer) it transitioned back to the the population centers. KRA had lost its seeming exclusivity, but rural Arkansas was once again Rural Arkansas.When Huckabee was governor, NWA was the epicenter of his Republican base and he had to cater to them. Then Mike Beebe (from Searcy) took over and US 67 became his driveway. Now Asa Hutchinson is governor and he is from NWA, but the whole state flipped Republican and now he has to spread the booty across the whole state.Actually, John Paul Hammerschmidt brought home the bacon for 49. and John Boozman pushed to upgrade 67.
Quote from: US71 on May 07, 2022, 02:37:54 PMQuote from: Road Hog on May 07, 2022, 01:00:35 AMQuote from: bwana39 on May 06, 2022, 10:40:04 AMWell over half of the population of Arkansas lives in metro Little Rock or NWA. Jonesboro is the one significant place out side of those two areas with over 40K. Even with its geographically outsized favor in transportation spending, it actually is less per capita in those areas than in a lot of more rural areas. Before the 2000's virtually everything revolved around Little Rock. When Huckabee became governor, that changed some. About the same time, NWA started to transition from a group of small town to a metropolitan area. After Huckabee left the Governor's Mansion (Triple Wide Trailer) it transitioned back to the the population centers. KRA had lost its seeming exclusivity, but rural Arkansas was once again Rural Arkansas.When Huckabee was governor, NWA was the epicenter of his Republican base and he had to cater to them. Then Mike Beebe (from Searcy) took over and US 67 became his driveway. Now Asa Hutchinson is governor and he is from NWA, but the whole state flipped Republican and now he has to spread the booty across the whole state.Actually, John Paul Hammerschmidt brought home the bacon for 49. and John Boozman pushed to upgrade 67.I think that the MC's may have had a hand, but both of these freeway projects actually were done after the demise of earmarks.
The Street View for the southbound lanes of Interstate 49 (then AR 549) is from April 2018. Hopefully, it will be updated in the future, although no one knows when that will happen.
Google Maps now has street view on the Bella Vista Bypass (Only in the southbound lanes)
Quote from: The Ghostbuster on May 16, 2022, 07:18:23 PMThe Street View for the southbound lanes of Interstate 49 (then AR 549) is from April 2018. Hopefully, it will be updated in the future, although no one knows when that will happen.https://goo.gl/maps/SapYdBKuoT9GoCB7A
I will be making a reunion tour to Fayetteville in 8 weeks. Are the interchanges at US 62 (Fayetteville) and 412 in Springdale still the antiquated bottlenecks they were when I lived there til 2009? Has anything been done or is in the plans to address them?
Quote from: Tomahawkin on May 19, 2022, 07:29:35 PMI will be making a reunion tour to Fayetteville in 8 weeks. Are the interchanges at US 62 (Fayetteville) and 412 in Springdale still the antiquated bottlenecks they were when I lived there til 2009? Has anything been done or is in the plans to address them?Just wait and get a dose of them. Hit them at 5:15. Weddington is getting the current work.
Quote from: Wayward Memphian on May 19, 2022, 08:05:53 PMQuote from: Tomahawkin on May 19, 2022, 07:29:35 PMI will be making a reunion tour to Fayetteville in 8 weeks. Are the interchanges at US 62 (Fayetteville) and 412 in Springdale still the antiquated bottlenecks they were when I lived there til 2009? Has anything been done or is in the plans to address them?Just wait and get a dose of them. Hit them at 5:15. Weddington is getting the current work. Was through there yesterday. Looks like they're mostly playing in the dirt, but there's a lane shift along 49
Multiple lane ramps are a cheap god-send. Those can be easily funded by a 1 cent SPLOST (Special-Local-Option-Sales-Tax). Those funds could also be added to Razorback transit bus stops. But I seriously don't think that has been considered up there?
IMO, the 71B interchange south of Fayetteville should be a full interchange where one of the roads could be a full parkway leading to U of A campus and a west Bypass could start there to connect to 112. This would help the back to school traffic and GameDay traffic. Upon thought nothing will happen to improve the 62 and 49 interchange for the next 5+ years or so. And it would give trucks a bypass. It's a pipedream but it's better to be proactive instead of reactive. Both Arizona and Florida do a great job with that philosophy! Georgia and Arkansas fail at that!
I just saw on Wikipedia that the exits on the AR 549/future Interstate 49 segment between US 71 and AR 22 are now numbered 1, 4, 5 and 7 instead of 187, 190, 191, and 193. Is this accurate?
Quote from: The Ghostbuster on June 01, 2022, 10:41:57 PMI just saw on Wikipedia that the exits on the AR 549/future Interstate 49 segment between US 71 and AR 22 are now numbered 1, 4, 5 and 7 instead of 187, 190, 191, and 193. Is this accurate? I'll have to drive over to document this. Considering how ARDOT renmbered the Bella Vista Bypass, it wouldn't surprise me.
Quote from: US71 on June 02, 2022, 01:18:28 PMQuote from: The Ghostbuster on June 01, 2022, 10:41:57 PMI just saw on Wikipedia that the exits on the AR 549/future Interstate 49 segment between US 71 and AR 22 are now numbered 1, 4, 5 and 7 instead of 187, 190, 191, and 193. Is this accurate? I'll have to drive over to document this. Considering how ARDOT renmbered the Bella Vista Bypass, it wouldn't surprise me.That leads me to believe that ArDOT is not planning on completing the Texarkana-Fort Smith section of I-49 anytime soon.
^ I doubt they are going to sign a rest area that is a whole 3 miles away from the main highway. Anything more than a half mile at most, and even that’s pushing it, is too far. It needs to be directly off of the exit to be viable.
Quote from: sprjus4 on April 28, 2022, 02:54:56 PM^ I doubt they are going to sign a rest area that is a whole 3 miles away from the main highway. Anything more than a half mile at most, and even that’s pushing it, is too far. It needs to be directly off of the exit to be viable.Well, so much for that theory as they're doing it right now in Benton County as of a couple of weeks ago. They have signed the tiny Welcome Center (no trucks) in Bella Vista from both directions on I-49 at the US-71 exit. Albeit, it's only about 1.2 miles off the Interstate, but it's a pain accessing from the south (which I-49 both directions would be coming from) as it's a left turn that's nearly a U-turn into the Welcome Center. As I-49 is completed in NWA, I can guarantee that they will do something similar at Elm Park, especially while it is just Super-2 AR-549. I have a picture of the sign if I can get some free time to upload to a pic sharing site.