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Author Topic: I-49 in Arkansas  (Read 1295834 times)

intelati49

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Re: I-49 in Arkansas
« Reply #3725 on: May 06, 2022, 04:49:17 PM »



is 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
 


Fun fact, this interchange (half finished for 99% of my life) was the origin story of my "roadgeek"iness (that and the double stack of I-64 in STL)

LM-Q730


cbalducc

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Re: I-49 in Arkansas
« Reply #3726 on: May 06, 2022, 11:42:35 PM »

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.
What is “KRA” ?  Is Fort Smith part of northwest Arkansas?
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Road Hog

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Re: I-49 in Arkansas
« Reply #3727 on: May 07, 2022, 01:00:35 AM »

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.
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.
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US71

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Re: I-49 in Arkansas
« Reply #3728 on: May 07, 2022, 02:37:54 PM »

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.
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.
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bwana39

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Re: I-49 in Arkansas
« Reply #3729 on: May 07, 2022, 06:00:49 PM »

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.
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.
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US71

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Re: I-49 in Arkansas
« Reply #3730 on: May 07, 2022, 06:07:36 PM »

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.
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.

Maybe with he 57 extension, but JPH  was influential in building 49 (aka the John Paul Hammerschmidt Highway)
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jlam

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Re: I-49 in Arkansas
« Reply #3731 on: May 16, 2022, 01:40:46 PM »

Google Maps now has street view on the Bella Vista Bypass (Only in the southbound lanes)

The Ghostbuster

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Re: I-49 in Arkansas
« Reply #3732 on: May 16, 2022, 07:18:23 PM »

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.
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Thegeet

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Re: I-49 in Arkansas
« Reply #3733 on: May 17, 2022, 12:10:16 AM »

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.
https://goo.gl/maps/SapYdBKuoT9GoCB7A
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GreenLanternCorps

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Re: I-49 in Arkansas
« Reply #3734 on: May 17, 2022, 10:55:11 AM »

Google Maps now has street view on the Bella Vista Bypass (Only in the southbound lanes)
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.
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.
https://goo.gl/maps/SapYdBKuoT9GoCB7A

The Streetview images are inconsistent and there are gaps.  In trying to "follow" I-49 from the split with US 71 South the images kept bouncing between 2022 and other years.
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sprjus4

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Re: I-49 in Arkansas
« Reply #3735 on: May 17, 2022, 05:20:27 PM »

^ Give it a few days, it should all update eventually.
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Tomahawkin

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Re: I-49 in Arkansas
« Reply #3736 on: May 19, 2022, 07:29:35 PM »

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?
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Wayward Memphian

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Re: I-49 in Arkansas
« Reply #3737 on: May 19, 2022, 08:05:53 PM »

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?

Just wait and get a dose of them. Hit them at 5:15. Weddington is getting the current work.
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US71

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Re: I-49 in Arkansas
« Reply #3738 on: May 19, 2022, 10:01:32 PM »

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?

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
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MikieTimT

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Re: I-49 in Arkansas
« Reply #3739 on: May 20, 2022, 06:19:01 PM »

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?

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

They've relocated utilities along the Wedington interchange and closed off the northbound shoulder to prepare the initial dirtwork for the parclo northbound entrance ramp.  Nothing to speak of along MLK although they will be starting on it this year I hear.  There are no changes planned for US-412's interchange at this point.  It and Wedington's offramps southbound back up onto the rightmost lane/shoulder every late afternoon with homebound Benton County traffic.  Nearly every offramp on I-49 in NWA needs to be upgraded to 2 lanes to keep exiting traffic from backing up onto I-49.  Really what needs to happen is that they just need to go ahead and do 4X4 upgrades throughout with the rightmost lane as a forced exit and entrance ramps picking the right lane back up.
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Tomahawkin

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Re: I-49 in Arkansas
« Reply #3740 on: May 21, 2022, 12:01:14 AM »

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?
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US71

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Re: I-49 in Arkansas
« Reply #3741 on: May 21, 2022, 10:06:39 PM »

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?

They could use more ramps along 540 at Fort Smith. One lane merging at the same time as a lane merging out is BS.  Examples: Phoenix to South 540, which almost immediately becomes an exit ramp  for Zero St. Same with Zero and 71 south, but I doubt much will change
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Tomahawkin

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Re: I-49 in Arkansas
« Reply #3742 on: May 22, 2022, 10:01:39 PM »

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!
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US71

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Re: I-49 in Arkansas
« Reply #3743 on: May 22, 2022, 11:44:56 PM »

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!

 ArDOT didn't think this out very well., but it seems to happen a lot.  ARDOT: planning for yesterday sometime next week
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Re: I-49 in Arkansas
« Reply #3744 on: June 01, 2022, 10:41:57 PM »

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?
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US71

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Re: I-49 in Arkansas
« Reply #3745 on: June 02, 2022, 01:18:28 PM »

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?
I'll have to drive over to document this. Considering how ARDOT renmbered the Bella Vista Bypass, it wouldn't surprise me.
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abqtraveler

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Re: I-49 in Arkansas
« Reply #3746 on: June 02, 2022, 10:28:03 PM »

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?
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.
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2-d Interstates traveled:  4, 5, 8, 10, 15, 20, 24, 25, 27, 29, 35, 39, 40, 41, 43, 45, 49, 55, 57, 64, 65, 66, 69, 70, 71, 72, 74, 75, 76(E), 77, 78, 81, 83, 84(W), 85, 87(N), 89, 90, 91, 93, 94, 95

2-d Interstates Clinched:  12, 22, 30, 37, 44, 59, 80, 84(E), 86(E), 238, H1, H2, H3, H201

US71

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Re: I-49 in Arkansas
« Reply #3747 on: June 03, 2022, 12:10:01 AM »

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?
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.
You are likely correct. I-40 to Barling is next on the project list, but it's a year or two away from starting and will only be 2 lanes to start.
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MikieTimT

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Re: I-49 in Arkansas
« Reply #3748 on: June 08, 2022, 02:35:31 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.
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US71

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Re: I-49 in Arkansas
« Reply #3749 on: June 08, 2022, 02:38:30 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.

ARDOT posted signs on 49 for the Rest Area?  That's new.

The Bella Vista Rest Area is a little small, but beats the old one at the state line

I wonder when ARDOT is going to start building the new RA at Highlands Blvd?
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