I-49 in Arkansas

[Road Hog]

Guess ARDOT will just triple down on the dumb instead.  They are changing the 4 northern exit numbers again, not back to the final mileage like the northern 3 used to have, but correcting the mileage back to the I-540 Oklahoma border as they were off by a couple of miles when they "corrected" the exit numbers last year.

I have no idea how many times a stretch of Interstate can be butchered so badly by a transportation entity.

https://www.4029tv.com/article/i-49-exit-numbers-benton-county/43879280

https://www.ardot.gov/news/23-151/

The new numbers are now posted in the field.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96nm4dzVGzU

A few links to skip ahead to where there's signage:
91 @ 31:47
97 @ 36:32
100 @ 37:56
102 @ 40:02

Not gonna lie, I watched the whole video from start to finish and enjoyed it greatly. Couldn't enjoy the full 4K experience because of my bandwidth issues but it was still pretty good in 1440.

[MikieTimT]

I always love it when I get to 4:35, especially at night.  Feels like I've almost made it home when I see Old Main and Yocum Hall pop into view and the rest of Fayetteville unfold over the hill.

[MikieTimT]

Cost of I-49 segment between Barling and Alma rises to $1 billion

Not exactly warranting optimism that we'll be crossing the Arkansas River on I-49 and driving the top level of the 4 level stack with I-40 this decade.  Nuts that it's 33% higher now than 2 years ago.

[sprjus4]

Cost of I-49 segment between Barling and Alma rises to $1 billion

Not exactly warranting optimism that we'll be crossing the Arkansas River on I-49 and driving the top level of the 4 level stack with I-40 this decade.  Nuts that it's 33% higher now than 2 years ago.

The article mentions the bridge portion will cost $330 million and $350 million for the I-49 / I-40 interchange, leaving around $320 million for the 13 miles of rural freeway, coming out to around $25 million per mile, which is fairly reasonable.

The cost issue then, would be the I-49 / I-40 interchange and the river bridge.

[The Ghostbuster]

Wikipedia shows that existing Interstate 49 between Interstate 40 and the Arkansas/Missouri border has its eventual exit numbers posted (which even I know is not the case): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_49_in_Arkansas#Exit_list. It even altered the mileage to show the eventual mileage from the Arkansas/Louisiana border (at least to the Elm Springs Rd. interchange, existing Exit 73/future Exit 259). This is probably a case of Wikipedia jumping the gun.

[MikieTimT]

Cost of I-49 segment between Barling and Alma rises to $1 billion

Not exactly warranting optimism that we'll be crossing the Arkansas River on I-49 and driving the top level of the 4 level stack with I-40 this decade.  Nuts that it's 33% higher now than 2 years ago.

The article mentions the bridge portion will cost $330 million and $350 million for the I-49 / I-40 interchange, leaving around $320 million for the 13 miles of rural freeway, coming out to around $25 million per mile, which is fairly reasonable.

The cost issue then, would be the I-49 / I-40 interchange and the river bridge.

The interchange with I-40 is a 4 level stack, which won't be cheap, although 2 of the ramps are already built to take I-49 south to I-40 east and I-40 east to I-49 north.  Since half of the middle 2 levels are already complete, they need only the 2 I-49 south movements to/from I-40 west and the top level carrying I-49 mainline over the top of it all, which will make for a very long overpass and approaches.

[abqtraveler]

Cost of I-49 segment between Barling and Alma rises to $1 billion

Not exactly warranting optimism that we'll be crossing the Arkansas River on I-49 and driving the top level of the 4 level stack with I-40 this decade.  Nuts that it's 33% higher now than 2 years ago.

The article mentions the bridge portion will cost $330 million and $350 million for the I-49 / I-40 interchange, leaving around $320 million for the 13 miles of rural freeway, coming out to around $25 million per mile, which is fairly reasonable.

The cost issue then, would be the I-49 / I-40 interchange and the river bridge.

The interchange with I-40 is a 4 level stack, which won't be cheap, although 2 of the ramps are already built to take I-49 south to I-40 east and I-40 east to I-49 north.  Since half of the middle 2 levels are already complete, they need only the 2 I-49 south movements to/from I-40 west and the top level carrying I-49 mainline over the top of it all, which will make for a very long overpass and approaches.

That all depends on the final design of the interchange. If ArDOT decides to leave the two existing flyover ramps as-is, then they could potentially realize some cost savings over a complete reconfiguration of the interchange. Even if they do decide to keep the existing ramps to save cost, those ramps are around 30 years old, so I wouldn't be surprised that ArDOT takes the opportunity to rehabilitate the bridges carrying those ramps as part of the project to connect I-40 and I-49 North with I-49 South.

[Bobby5280]

The $350 million estimate sounds a lot like a total re-build of the existing interchange. The existing "Y" interchange between I-49 and I-40 in Alma is over 30 years old. All of the existing flyover ramps are single lane ramps. Two lane flyover ramps are becoming more common with system interchanges between two intersecting Interstates. Then there is an additional problem that the design of those existing flyover ramps did not provide any room for future expansion. There is no room for thru lanes of I-49 to continue South thru the interchange with I-40. Support pylons are all in the way. And then there is the height of the flyover ramps. They were built only high enough to leap over each other and I-40. There was no additional room reserved for an extra level for I-49 thru lanes going farther South.

Sorry to say it, but that existing interchange just has to get scrapped and re-built from scratch.

[Great Lakes Roads]

The $350 million estimate sounds a lot like a total re-build of the existing interchange. The existing "Y" interchange between I-49 and I-40 in Alma is over 30 years old. All of the existing flyover ramps are single lane ramps. Two lane flyover ramps are becoming more common with system interchanges between two intersecting Interstates. Then there is an additional problem that the design of those existing flyover ramps did not provide any room for future expansion. There is no room for thru lanes of I-49 to continue South thru the interchange with I-40. Support pylons are all in the way. And then there is the height of the flyover ramps. They were built only high enough to leap over each other and I-40. There was no additional room reserved for an extra level for I-49 thru lanes going farther South.

Sorry to say it, but that existing interchange just has to get scrapped and re-built from scratch.

And the ArDOT plan supports your claim...

[Henry]

The $350 million estimate sounds a lot like a total re-build of the existing interchange. The existing "Y" interchange between I-49 and I-40 in Alma is over 30 years old. All of the existing flyover ramps are single lane ramps. Two lane flyover ramps are becoming more common with system interchanges between two intersecting Interstates. Then there is an additional problem that the design of those existing flyover ramps did not provide any room for future expansion. There is no room for thru lanes of I-49 to continue South thru the interchange with I-40. Support pylons are all in the way. And then there is the height of the flyover ramps. They were built only high enough to leap over each other and I-40. There was no additional room reserved for an extra level for I-49 thru lanes going farther South.

Sorry to say it, but that existing interchange just has to get scrapped and re-built from scratch.

And the ArDOT plan supports your claim...

As does Streetview.

[MikieTimT]

Arkansas Department of Transportation plans to expand Interstate 49

Haven't selected contractor yet, but plan on starting actual construction from AR-22 to Gun Club Rd. starting the middle of next year, which includes the big ticket item of the Arkansas River bridge.

Some typically confused reporting by the local news crew that this phase of the project would allow truck traffic to stay on I-49 to get past Ft. Smith to US-71, but this would be only when everything is done, well into the 2030's.  It's not like trucks are going to take AR-59 and actually use Gun Club Rd., which is a dirt road in the middle of river bottom cropland.  They'll do like they currently do and continue on AR-59 to Barling, turn onto AR-22, and get on AR-549 to US-71.  This first phase isn't exactly a Section of Independent Utility.

No details on whether it's a Super-2 or 4 lane crossing either, so I'd expect to be underwhelmed by what's actually planned for this first phase as I don't see anywhere near enough budgeted in the 2023-2026 STIP for 4 lanes of a major river crossing at $256.9M.