I-49 in Arkansas

[O Tamandua]

Heh, too true.  But there are other ways from Winnipeg, Houston, etc. to Los Angeles, Atlanta, etc.  The I-49 corridor will link the busiest ports in America (those on the coast from the Houston Area to the New Orleans area) to the busiest port on the Great Lakes (Duluth/Superior). 

Pfft.  Duluth/Superior's port traffic (most of which is intra-Great Lakes) has basically plateaued, as far as I'm aware.  Back when I lived there, I was with a group that lobbied for the renovation of the Soo Locks and I'm not sure if that was even done after I left (hopefully, by now).  Given the limitations of the Welland Canal, you're not going to be seeing PANAMAX ships come in there any time soon (not that they could even accommodate them with the current port facilities, anyway).  If there was any true demand for traffic between the two ports, you would have seen measures taken long ago -- the real heyday of the Twin Ports was decades ago.

Also, given the lack of traffic in the Twin Ports to the point where it feels overbuilt as is infrastructure-wise, calling it a traffic generator or attractor is a real stretch.

Nice place to visit in the summer, though, as long as you're headed up the North Shore.

I stand corrected.  Thanks, Rothman, for the information.

The biggest city in central Canada (Winnipeg) and the biggest cities in five American states (Minn/St. P, Des Moines, Fargo, Sioux Falls, Omaha) + Kansas City (which would be Kansas' biggest metro area were it wholly in that state) will make up for it with I-49. 

[bjrush]

Saw the 60% plans for AHTD Job BB0414,

Some comments on the signage plans:



1. Surely Little Rock as a control city for southbound I-49 is a mistake. All the rest of the signs show Fort Smith shown.
2. Shouldn't it just be "Fulbright Expy"?



3. I hate using Joplin Mo as a control city. No one on that road is going to Joplin, they are going to Bentonville. There is only 20k VPD northbound at the state line. There are 39k north of Exit 88 and 80k prior to the Hwy 12 exit. Bentonville is the clear choice here

Otherwise, looks good. Can't wait for the project to begin, so that it can get constructed and that interchange won't be absolutely terrible

[US71]

Saw the 60% plans for AHTD Job BB0414,

So 112 and Bus 71 are going A-B exits instead of individual numbers?  112 is Exit 66, 71B is currently 67. I think 71B should be TO 71B, like the new flyover is TO 49

Using Fulbright Expressway for 71B seems silly. Why not use Springdale (as is posted where Fulbright intersects College Ave)?

I'm glad to see 71 co-signed with 49, but wish they would post US 62, as well.

Using Little Rock as a control on 49 does seem a bit off: use Fort Smith or (shudder) Texarkana

I have no major complaints about using Joplin

FWIW, Fort Smith is used as a control on I-49 south of Joplin.

[bjrush]

I think 71B should be TO 71B,

Technically the Fulbright Expy is also Highway 71B per the route and section map, probably a holdover from before I-540. I agree though

https://www.arkansashighways.com/Maps/Counties/County%20RAS/RAS%20Maps%20PDF/mwash_ras.pdf

[noelbotevera]

I think the reason why Little Rock is the control city is that it's still the end of I-49 until you hit the next segment near the Missouri state line.

[US71]

I think 71B should be TO 71B,

Technically the Fulbright Expy is also Highway 71B per the route and section map, probably a holdover from before I-540. I agree though

Yes. It's part of the original Fayetteville Bypass. I think on paper it was 471 Spur at one time. I often call it 71 BS

[NE2]

I think the reason why Little Rock is the control city is that it's still the end of I-49 until you hit the next segment near the Missouri state line.

Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt.

[Scott5114]

I wonder why they're including "Mo" after "Joplin". Not as if there's going to be a big confusion with Joplin, AR, is there? And all of the signs for I-44 out of Tulsa already say "Joplin", no "Mo".

But then again nobody in Oklahoma City seems to know where Joplin is when it comes up in conversation, so maybe it is needed. Who knows.

[US71]

I wonder why they're including "Mo" after "Joplin". Not as if there's going to be a big confusion with Joplin, AR, is there? And all of the signs for I-44 out of Tulsa already say "Joplin", no "Mo".

But then again nobody in Oklahoma City seems to know where Joplin is when it comes up in conversation, so maybe it is needed. Who knows.

The I-49 BGS's at Joplin say Fort Smith without saying AR or Ark, though a couple of the  exits south of there have Fort Smith AR

[rte66man]

I wonder why they're including "Mo" after "Joplin". Not as if there's going to be a big confusion with Joplin, AR, is there? And all of the signs for I-44 out of Tulsa already say "Joplin", no "Mo".

But then again nobody in Oklahoma City seems to know where Joplin is when it comes up in conversation, so maybe it is needed. Who knows.

This is the second thread I've seen you post this comment.  I'm not debating the accuracy, just why Joplin?  The same can be said for most any small/medium city in the region. Ask any OKC resident where Longview, TX or Emporia, KS is and they probably couldn't tell you even though both (like Joplin) are located on major interstates.

[US71]

This is the second thread I've seen you post this comment.  I'm not debating the accuracy, just why Joplin? 

Because it joins I-44 at Joplin?

[Scott5114]

I used to go to school in Springfield and traveled back to OKC a lot. Joplin was a useful waypoint in between, being the only major thing between Springfield and Tulsa. But if someone asked where along the road I was and I said Joplin, they would invariably ask "Where's that?" Which I always found surprising, since I had always had a vague idea of where it was.

On the other hand, if I mentioned Miami, which is smaller, but on the OK side of the line, they knew exactly where I was. Go figure.

[Bobby5280]

Joplin isn't exactly one of those blink and you miss it cities, although not too much of it is built across I-44 or I-49. The city is big enough to have quite a few different chain businesses there. Heck, there is a Chipotle in Joplin and we don't even have one of those in Lawton yet (and Lawton is about double Joplin's size in population).

As to people in Oklahoma not knowing of Joplin or where it's located I would have to say those Okies must have been living in a cave for a few years. Joplin was huge in the news and received a national outpouring of sympathy after that EF-5 tornado struck there.

[roadman65]

What I find interesting is the fact that Fort Smith is used as control city for I-49 (US 71) south of Joplin, but in Arkansas they use their own they use this:
https://www.google.com/maps/@35.4782209,-94.2489508,3a,75y,50.14h,72.87t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s8aIIzB20PC-JkOLbQNdgnw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1

Joplin means nothing to them either.

[US71]

What I find interesting is the fact that Fort Smith is used as control city for I-49 (US 71) south of Joplin, but in Arkansas they use their own they use this:
https://www.google.com/maps/@35.4782209,-94.2489508,3a,75y,50.14h,72.87t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s8aIIzB20PC-JkOLbQNdgnw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656!6m1!1e1

Joplin means nothing to them either.

That's a modified I-540 sign. The shields were replaced, but not the signs themselves. 540 originally ended in Fayetteville, but was later extended to Bentonville.

[rte66man]

This is the second thread I've seen you post this comment.  I'm not debating the accuracy, just why Joplin? 

Because it joins I-44 at Joplin?

I should have deleted the first part of the quote because the second part was what I was commenting on.

[mvak36]

Now that there is a highway bill in place, are there any new parts of I-49 that might get constructed in the next 5 years? Like maybe the Mena bypass, etc.,

[Gordon]

I would like to see Bella Vista Bypass finished and From I 40 to the new section in Barling finished first. I think those 2 projects would would help promote I 49 getting finished.

[US71]

Now that there is a highway bill in place, are there any new parts of I-49 that might get constructed in the next 5 years? Like maybe the Mena bypass, etc.,

Nothing that I have seen. Then again, the bill is over 1000 pages and I've yet to find copy on-line.

[mvak36]

Now that there is a highway bill in place, are there any new parts of I-49 that might get constructed in the next 5 years? Like maybe the Mena bypass, etc.,

Nothing that I have seen. Then again, the bill is over 1000 pages and I've yet to find copy on-line.

This thread had a draft of the bill before it got passed: https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=16970.msg2110067#msg2110067

I'm confused though. Does it have to be in the bill in order for any construction to happen? I was thinking that AHTD would just have to request the federal share of the project cost once it starts (or before) construction.

I probably misunderstood what you were saying.

[Gordon]

I hope when Gov. Hutchinson decides on extra State funding next month that AHTD will start working on the design phase of the I 49 Arkansas Bridge project. Then maybe Missouri will find some funding for the Bella Vista Bypass next year.

[mvak36]

Are there any other sections between Alma and Texarkana that have already been designed and are ready for construction? Will they have to do environmental studies on any sections also?

[andy3175]

Now that there is a highway bill in place, are there any new parts of I-49 that might get constructed in the next 5 years? Like maybe the Mena bypass, etc.,

Nothing that I have seen. Then again, the bill is over 1000 pages and I've yet to find copy on-line.

Here is the compromise version (House/Senate) that was signed by the President on Friday. Happy reading!

http://transportation.house.gov/uploadedfiles/fastact_xml.pdf

http://transportation.house.gov/uploadedfiles/house_senate_big_4.pdf

http://www.commerce.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ID=31E4942D-A775-459F-9137-EC0F5560CBDF

[Grzrd]

I have an AHTD Crawford County map from 1969 (?) that showed a proposed extension of I-540 heading north,  so it was in some semblance of "planning" for years. It just took John Paul Hammerschmidt and lots of earmarks to make it happen.

AHTD's July 13, 2015 presentation to the Fort Smith Regional Chamber of Commerce

Here is a good visual of the Arkansas River bridge section from AHTD's above-linked presentation to the Fort Smith Chamber of Commerce (p. 10/31 of pdf):

This article reports on U.S. Representative Steve Womack's recent visit to Van Buren, during which he recalled the glory days of John Paul Hammerschmidt and opined that earmarks (this time subject to a line item veto) should return to Congress for big projects such as a "slackwater harbor" in the Van Buren area and, apparently, the I-49 Arkansas River bridge ("that bridge" - he may have been referring to Alaska's infamous "Bridge to Nowhere", but the comment also seems applicable to the I-49 bridge):

The famous "Bridge to Nowhere"  in Ketchikan, Alaska, did actually lead somewhere – the start of a ban on budget appropriation "earmarks"  for specific projects, and a more slippery slope for major transportation projects like those targeted by the Western Arkansas Regional Intermodal Transportation Authority.
Speaking to the authority on Wednesday at the Van Buren Public Library, U.S. Rep. Steve Womack of Rogers said the regional group's long-running efforts to create a "slackwater harbor"  for container ships in the Van Buren area and its prerequisite 12-foot deep channel from the Mississippi River, are hard to make happen without the old way of doing things.
Womack is proposing a new way of doing things, based on three components that include more transparency with a cost-benefit analysis, public entity request and having budgetary requests formerly known as earmarks subject to line item veto ....
"My ability to make a case for building that bridge has basically been taken away from me by House rules,"  Womack said. "You cannot do an earmark for a project like that. ... This is not like it used to be during the John Paul (Hammerschmidt) years, even the Tim and Asa (Hutchinson) and John Boozman years. ... We cannot set aside money in appropriations for specific things in specific districts."  ....
Womack, who has said lawmakers essentially shot themselves in the foot with the ban, theorized Wednesday it also has led to an even more "divided government."
"That was the grease that kept Congress pretty well together for all those many years, so I think in history, you can go back to the earmark ban and say that's when the Congress became perhaps hopelessly divided, even on the Republican side,"  Womack said.
In addition to hearing from Womack on Wednesday, the 12-member RITA group restated its objectives, with the No. 1 goal remaining "continue to support a regional intermodal port,"  followed by "continue to promote I-49 development," and "find additional financial assistance for funding RITA."

Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson proposes using state budget surplus to pay for fixing the roads

(above quote from Arkansas to Use Budget Surplus to Fix Roads thread)

While Rep. Womack is touting the return of earmarks as a mechanism to make progress on I-49 and other big projects, the Governor's Working Group on Highway Funding Short-Term Recommendation also acknowledges mid-term target, long-term target, and ultimate needs funding goals for highways. The timetable for Ultimate Needs is "ten years in the future" and includes the completion of I-49 as one of the needs (pp. 4-5/15 of pdf; pp. 3-4 of document):


....


A slide from the January 20, 2016 AHTD presentation to the Arkansas State Highway Commission provides a concise summary of the different goals (p. 19/104 of pdf):

[bjrush]

Ah, so AHTD only needs a mere $1.68B annually. That's only 35% of our ENTIRE STATE's BUDGET!!