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[MikieTimT]

^ 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?

Signs just posted about 3 weeks ago about a mile either side of  Exit 93:.

The contract for the Welcome Center is still tentatively scheduled for letting on Sept. 21, but looks like they adjusted the contract value since the last posting.

4/14 posting:
Benton    090580    Arkansas Welcome Center (I-49) (S)    --    $5 - $10 Million

5/31 posting:
Benton    090580    Arkansas Welcome Center (I-49) (S)    --    $3 - $5 Million

[US71]

[
The contract for the Welcome Center is still tentatively scheduled for letting on Sept. 21, but looks like they adjusted the contract value since the last posting.

4/14 posting:
Benton    090580    Arkansas Welcome Center (I-49) (S)    --    $5 - $10 Million

5/31 posting:
Benton    090580    Arkansas Welcome Center (I-49) (S)    --    $3 - $5 Million

Down to around half. ?  What did they do...replace the restrooms with porta Johns? 

[MikieTimT]

[
The contract for the Welcome Center is still tentatively scheduled for letting on Sept. 21, but looks like they adjusted the contract value since the last posting.

4/14 posting:
Benton    090580    Arkansas Welcome Center (I-49) (S)    --    $5 - $10 Million

5/31 posting:
Benton    090580    Arkansas Welcome Center (I-49) (S)    --    $3 - $5 Million

Down to around half. ?  What did they do...replace the restrooms with porta Johns? 

Probably removed the truck parking.  That way it better matches the facility in Bella Vista!

[US71]

[
The contract for the Welcome Center is still tentatively scheduled for letting on Sept. 21, but looks like they adjusted the contract value since the last posting.

4/14 posting:
Benton    090580    Arkansas Welcome Center (I-49) (S)    --    $5 - $10 Million

5/31 posting:
Benton    090580    Arkansas Welcome Center (I-49) (S)    --    $3 - $5 Million

Down to around half. ?  What did they do...replace the restrooms with porta Johns? 

Probably removed the truck parking.  That way it better matches the facility in Bella Vista!

At a State Line Rest Area?  Sounds like a load of rubbish to me, but what do I know? 

[MikieTimT]

[
The contract for the Welcome Center is still tentatively scheduled for letting on Sept. 21, but looks like they adjusted the contract value since the last posting.

4/14 posting:
Benton    090580    Arkansas Welcome Center (I-49) (S)    --    $5 - $10 Million

5/31 posting:
Benton    090580    Arkansas Welcome Center (I-49) (S)    --    $3 - $5 Million

Down to around half. ?  What did they do...replace the restrooms with porta Johns? 

Probably removed the truck parking.  That way it better matches the facility in Bella Vista!

At a State Line Rest Area?  Sounds like a load of rubbish to me, but what do I know? 

I should have better delineated my sarcasm.  That said, anything still beats what Missouri offers the Interstate traveller along I-49.

[US71]

[
The contract for the Welcome Center is still tentatively scheduled for letting on Sept. 21, but looks like they adjusted the contract value since the last posting.

4/14 posting:
Benton    090580    Arkansas Welcome Center (I-49) (S)    --    $5 - $10 Million

5/31 posting:
Benton    090580    Arkansas Welcome Center (I-49) (S)    --    $3 - $5 Million

Down to around half. ?  What did they do...replace the restrooms with porta Johns? 

Probably removed the truck parking.  That way it better matches the facility in Bella Vista!

At a State Line Rest Area?  Sounds like a load of rubbish to me, but what do I know? 

I should have better delineated my sarcasm.  That said, anything still beats what Missouri offers the Interstate traveller along I-49.

I like </s>

The MoDOT 49 RA is a joke! It's inside a small real estate office  and you have to drive about a mile and a half off the freeway. But there;s a nice "49 starts here"  sign in thr lobby, I thought I had a photo, but I can't find it.

[MikieTimT]

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.

Actually, info on the MLK/US-62/AR-180 interchange, 15th St. Extension, and continuing the 6 laning south to the southern Fulbright Expressway is posted, with an in-person public meeting today that I'm going to try to attend.  Below is the info on the project.

Highway 62 Interchange Improvements | Interstate 49 | Fayetteville | Washington County Job 040846 Public Involvement Meeting

Sounds like project starts late 2022 according to the video.

[Tomahawkin]

Will there be any mentioning of overhead mast lighting? IMO any type of lighting is badly needed!

[MikieTimT]

Will there be any mentioning of overhead mast lighting? IMO any type of lighting is badly needed!

None mentioned, although I did fill out a comment sheet and included not only that lighting be added to this particular project, but that all of I-49 in NWA needed it.  <s> I'm sure it will be seriously considered before rejected outright. </s>

Upon discussion with the ARDOT rep I had a conversation with, it looks like this will go out to bid late 2023/early 2024, so I wouldn't expect to see utilities moving before 2024.  So I'd wager late 2025 before project completion.  Wedington will be done likely 18-24 months before that, so at least we won't have to suffer 2 congested exits in a row under construction simultaneously.

[Tomahawkin]

They are just now trying to address the Wedington road issue??? Cheesewhiz, that is 15 years overdue. That area was Sprawling area when I was there from 2006-09...

[MikieTimT]

They are just now trying to address the Wedington road issue??? Cheesewhiz, that is 15 years overdue. That area was Sprawling area when I was there from 2006-09...

Now it's just a gridlocked area 5 hours a day.

[US71]

They are just now trying to address the Wedington road issue??? Cheesewhiz, that is 15 years overdue. That area was Sprawling area when I was there from 2006-09...

ARDOT: planning for yesterday, sometimes next week.

[Gordon]

In the commission minutes of April this is the one they voted to submit for next to federal highway grant program, I wonder if this the new money total for completing this One project, with the assistance of a consultant, was selected as the best candidate project
in which to prepare and submit an application for consideration:
• Future I-49, Highway 22 – I-40 in Sebastian and Crawford Counties
o Will construct a four-lane interstate facility on new location with a
bridge crossing of the Arkansas River
- 13 -
(Continued)
April 27, 2022
o Total current estimated total project cost is $925 million
o Project will be delivered in phases as funding allows

[Tomahawkin]

NWA gazette posted info about interchange improvements at U.S. 62. Included are plans to widen 62 from 1 mile road to IH 49. Adding a overpass and/or ramps with 15th street in addition to making 49, 6 lanes through that corridor. I like the addition of the 15th street bridge but the Bridge widening over US 62 should be widened to 8 lanes. I think the presence of the frontage roads is preventing this from happening???

[I-39]

They are just now trying to address the Wedington road issue??? Cheesewhiz, that is 15 years overdue. That area was Sprawling area when I was there from 2006-09...

ARDOT: planning for yesterday, sometimes next week.

Same could be said about TDOT.

[MikieTimT]

NWA gazette posted info about interchange improvements at U.S. 62. Included are plans to widen 62 from 1 mile road to IH 49. Adding a overpass and/or ramps with 15th street in addition to making 49, 6 lanes through that corridor. I like the addition of the 15th street bridge but the Bridge widening over US 62 should be widened to 8 lanes. I think the presence of the frontage roads is preventing this from happening???

There's plenty of space to widen the bridge itself to 8 lanes, but Shiloh and Futrall drive within a mile and a half in either direction are quite close to the mainline lanes in spots, so 8 laning things south of the Mount Comfort/Porter Rd. exit (Exit 65) will get a little tight the further south it would go.  It certainly should happen at least north of MLK (Exit 62) with the amount of local traffic that there is north of Exit 62.  They are looking like they'll close the current entrance/exit ramps south of Exit 62 and have everything exiting northbound onto MLK and entering southbound from MLK utilize the converted 1-way access roads and traffic circles to 15th St. (Exit 61?).  Those current ramps have terrible geometry at Shiloh/Futrall anyway, so they won't be missed as they don't function well for acceleration to/deceleration from 65 MPH.  All of the mainline expansion to 6 lanes down to the Fulbright Expressway southern exit will continue within the median with a barrier just like it is with the current 6/8 lane portions according to the schematics of the website linked above in my previous post.

[Road Hog]

i can only think of a couple of 4-lane stretches of interstate in Arkansas, both in the Little Rock area: The 2-mile stretch of I-40 between the I-30 and US 67 interchanges, and the short stretch of I-30 west of the I-430 interchange (that's actually 5 lanes counting the decel lane for Otter Creek). 

[sprjus4]

^ 4 lane, as in… 8 total lanes?

[intelati49]

^ 4 lane, as in… 8 total lanes?

I'm assuming so, my initial thought was "four lane is the standard interstate... oh, four lanes for a carriageway"

LM-Q730

[MikieTimT]

i can only think of a couple of 4-lane stretches of interstate in Arkansas, both in the Little Rock area: The 2-mile stretch of I-40 between the I-30 and US 67 interchanges, and the short stretch of I-30 west of the I-430 interchange (that's actually 5 lanes counting the decel lane for Otter Creek).

Fayetteville I-49 between Exits 65 and 67 is 8-9 lanes.

https://goo.gl/maps/N9uvFdTfPa5kTzin7

[Plutonic Panda]

Not really any new information but it should be breaking ground this fall:

They also heard that solutions have been made to save $65 million on a bridge over the Arkansas River and initial ground-breaking of the 13.7 miles of interstate from Alma to Barling should happen this fall.

- https://talkbusiness.net/2022/07/highway-officials-tout-benefit-of-i-49-completion/?fbclid=IwAR0laPS-iK6cBp7F95Q8JeN_sCZwzgV7nYF6tnZ95rsfVq9yasRSmh2Sfso

[MikieTimT]

Not really any new information but it should be breaking ground this fall:

They also heard that solutions have been made to save $65 million on a bridge over the Arkansas River and initial ground-breaking of the 13.7 miles of interstate from Alma to Barling should happen this fall.

- https://talkbusiness.net/2022/07/highway-officials-tout-benefit-of-i-49-completion/?fbclid=IwAR0laPS-iK6cBp7F95Q8JeN_sCZwzgV7nYF6tnZ95rsfVq9yasRSmh2Sfso

Yeah, this is just ceremonial and clearing some brush for a little over a mile.  It's not going to start in earnest for a while.  2 lanes by the end of the decade leaves a lot of wiggle room on priorities.  Hope they get started before they have to clear the brush again!

[The Ghostbuster]

I wonder when one will be able to drive non-stop on Interstate 49 from the Louisiana border to the Missouri border? I suspect one might have to wait until 2050 for that to occur.

[Rick Powell]

I wonder when one will be able to drive non-stop on Interstate 49 from the Louisiana border to the Missouri border? I suspect one might have to wait until 2050 for that to occur.

2050? Maybe if you include "TO I-49" signed portions of US 71.

[Road Hog]

Just getting down from Alma to Y City and bypassing the bigger towns south from there will be a massive timesaver. Won't be as great as a full 2di, but it's not nothing.