I-49 in Arkansas

[CtrlAltDel]

QT is building a new location in OKC(first in the region) but it'll be a new format travel store. It'll have truck fueling spots and showers. I'd imagine they will expand on this concept and building on the new I-49 segment seems like a no brainer.

On an weird (maybe) side note, I once got gas at Quik Trip store number 1, completely by happenstance. Digging into the matter, though, I found that there have been a few number 1 stores.

[US71]

QT is building a new location in OKC(first in the region) but it'll be a new format travel store. It'll have truck fueling spots and showers. I'd imagine they will expand on this concept and building on the new I-49 segment seems like a no brainer.

On an weird (maybe) side note, I once got gas at Quik Trip store number 1, completely by happenstance. Digging into the matter, though, I found that there have been a few number 1 stores.

Wal-Mart has had several different #1 stores.

[MikieTimT]

QT is building a new location in OKC(first in the region) but it'll be a new format travel store. It'll have truck fueling spots and showers. I'd imagine they will expand on this concept and building on the new I-49 segment seems like a no brainer.

On an weird (maybe) side note, I once got gas at Quik Trip store number 1, completely by happenstance. Digging into the matter, though, I found that there have been a few number 1 stores.

Wal-Mart has had several different #1 stores.

But Walton's 5-10 is the OG, so it became the museum for the chain.  The actual original Store #1 in Rogers is now called "Somewhere In Time Antique Mall", which used to be Shelby Lane Mall where I picked up a Thomas Kinkaid lithograph and had it signed by him prior to his passing.  The building is not much to look at, which is likely why Wal-Mart offloaded it and built across the road for the 2nd iteration of Store 1.  Now they're on the 3rd location further west on US-71B when they did the SuperCenter format conversion.

[Scott5114]

They have QT locations in NWA? If so, when did this happen? Outside of Dallas, I haven't seen a QT west of the Mississippi...

QT is headquartered in Tulsa.....

I wouldn't ignore Casey's.  They are becoming more and more of a presence.

Casey's target market for years has been small towns in rural USA where there is little to no competition after 6PM local.

They don't make money on the gas, its on the fried chicken and pizza later in the evenings.

Their corporate strategy seems to have changed, as they bought up all of the Circle Ks in the Oklahoma City metro. Lots of C-store competition here.

[US71]

They have QT locations in NWA? If so, when did this happen? Outside of Dallas, I haven't seen a QT west of the Mississippi...

QT is headquartered in Tulsa.....

I wouldn't ignore Casey's.  They are becoming more and more of a presence.

Casey's target market for years has been small towns in rural USA where there is little to no competition after 6PM local.

They don't make money on the gas, its on the fried chicken and pizza later in the evenings.

Their corporate strategy seems to have changed, as they bought up all of the Circle Ks in the Oklahoma City metro. Lots of C-store competition here.

Springdale has a new Casey's across from Kum & Go

[MikieTimT]

They have QT locations in NWA? If so, when did this happen? Outside of Dallas, I haven't seen a QT west of the Mississippi...

QT is headquartered in Tulsa.....

I wouldn't ignore Casey's.  They are becoming more and more of a presence.

Casey's target market for years has been small towns in rural USA where there is little to no competition after 6PM local.

They don't make money on the gas, its on the fried chicken and pizza later in the evenings.

Their corporate strategy seems to have changed, as they bought up all of the Circle Ks in the Oklahoma City metro. Lots of C-store competition here.

Springdale has a new Casey's across from Kum & Go

And another one off Exit 65 just past the Subaru dealership in Fayetteville.  Casey's are the ones growing fastest around here, not just in the small towns either.

[US71]

They have QT locations in NWA? If so, when did this happen? Outside of Dallas, I haven't seen a QT west of the Mississippi...

QT is headquartered in Tulsa.....

I wouldn't ignore Casey's.  They are becoming more and more of a presence.

Casey's target market for years has been small towns in rural USA where there is little to no competition after 6PM local.

They don't make money on the gas, its on the fried chicken and pizza later in the evenings.

Their corporate strategy seems to have changed, as they bought up all of the Circle Ks in the Oklahoma City metro. Lots of C-store competition here.

Springdale has a new Casey's across from Kum & Go

And another one off Exit 65 just past the Subaru dealership in Fayetteville.  Casey's are the ones growing fastest around here, not just in the small towns either.

Porter Rd seems like an odd location, but if it works, it works. Then again,  isn't the Police Department building a new HQ at Porter and Deane?

[GreenLanternCorps]

I-49 BVB now showing up in Apple Maps.

[Tomahawkin]

OT, does anyone know why there aren't any if no Truck stops on 49 north of IH 40 north of Alma, before the series of elevated viaducts? I should have asked this 10 years ago?

[US71]

OT, does anyone know why there aren't any if no Truck stops on 49 north of IH 40 north of Alma, before the series of elevated viaducts? I should have asked this 10 years ago?

There was one at Mountainburg, but it closed (It may have been too far off the highway).  There's a small Phillips 66 Truck Stop at Greenland. Most of the existing businesses predate I-540/I-49. It's also possible individual communities opted not to rezone.  (Which is beginning to happen around Gravette/Hiwassee)

[Tomahawkin]

Yeah, I didn't like to go too far off of I-49 when I would drive from Fayetteville to Jonesboro. I usually left with a full tank and would stop outside of Russelville at the big pilot station there

[msunat97]

Any updates on the timing to finish the exit from 49SB to US71?  My wife drove the BVB last night for the first time.  It's a huge upgrade.  She was very pleased with it and how nice it was to skip the traffic in Bella Vista.

[MikieTimT]

Any updates on the timing to finish the exit from 49SB to US71?  My wife drove the BVB last night for the first time.  It's a huge upgrade.  She was very pleased with it and how nice it was to skip the traffic in Bella Vista.

Back in late Aug. when they closed the offramp to resolve the falling rock onto the ramp, they stated that it would be closed for a couple of months.  Looks like they have lots of vehicles parked on the offramp today on the camera, but they are done with the hillside remediation.  Once the paving/striping/signage work is done, I'd expect it to reopen shortly.

[US71]

Any updates on the timing to finish the exit from 49SB to US71?  My wife drove the BVB last night for the first time.  It's a huge upgrade.  She was very pleased with it and how nice it was to skip the traffic in Bella Vista.

I'm told this coming Friday.

[MikieTimT]

I wonder when they're going to extend the 6 laning that currently terminates at Exit 88 up to Exit 91.  It's especially going to be a bottleneck southbound as platoons of traffic from the 71B SPUI merge into the mainline 2 lanes until Exit 88.  Bet it doesn't take ARDoT long to figure out the need, if it hasn't been brought up yet.

[msunat97]

Question for the board about I-49 in Fayetteville...why does the interstate have the weird curve where Fulbright Expressway connects?  This seems like a very weird an possibly unsafe bend in the road. 

[abqtraveler]

Question for the board about I-49 in Fayetteville...why does the interstate have the weird curve where Fulbright Expressway connects?  This seems like a very weird an possibly unsafe bend in the road.

Because the Fullbright Expressway was a bypass of Fayetteville that existed prior to I-49...or should I say...I-540 at the time. The weird curves you see were the result of connecting newer sections of then-I-540 to the Fullbright.

[ARMOURERERIC]

So, now that it has been a few weeks, do we have a feel for what is Arkansas  next big priority?

[US71]

Question for the board about I-49 in Fayetteville...why does the interstate have the weird curve where Fulbright Expressway connects?  This seems like a very weird an possibly unsafe bend in the road.

Because the Fullbright Expressway was a bypass of Fayetteville that existed prior to I-49...or should I say...I-540 at the time. The weird curves you see were the result of connecting newer sections of then-I-540 to the Fullbright.

The "old" 71 bypass dates back to around 1970, which was 4-laned circa 1980, then later upgraded  to I-540/I-49

[Road Hog]

So, now that it has been a few weeks, do we have a feel for what is Arkansas  next big priority?

As far as bulldozers on the ground, I'm thinking Arkansas will take a breather on I-49 for a while and concentrate on finishing the I-30 project and the widening through Jacksonville. That doesn't mean they won't be working on funding for the river bridge and other I-49 segments, though.

[Tomahawkin]

I dont see much happening either, even though interchange improvements in the Fayetteville, Springdale, and Rogers areas are still needed, IMO

[MikieTimT]

So, now that it has been a few weeks, do we have a feel for what is Arkansas  next big priority?

We're back to the typical focus of Little Rock in the short term with I-30 and I-430 as well as US-67/Future I-57 in the Jacksonville area.  In NWA, the only short term items are the MLK and Wedington interchanges, although they are starting the surveys for AR-112 widening from Fayetteville to Bentonville, as well as studies for XNA's access road to the western leg of AR-612 and a N/S connector from the Bella Vista Bypass to the Springdale Bypass in the same vicinity as the XNA access road.

Don't know of much else that I would consider priority to the outside world other than piecemeal upgrades of US-82 in the south and US-412 in the north until some time passes to allow for CAP extension funding to be collected for further I-49 related projects between Texarkana and Alma and I-30/I-40 widening projects in the longer term as well as the Springdale Bypass completion.  It'd take federal funding to appear for anything major outside of LR in the short to medium term.

[O Tamandua]

This is an article today from TRAINS magazine on the impending Canadian Pacific/Kansas City Southern merger.  Though not a perfect parallel between Omaha and Winnipeg, it's fascinating how closely this network will parallel the Laredo/Brownsville-Houston-Minneapolis and Winnipeg-New Orleans corridors which the Texas I-69 and I-49 highway network will also serve.  The CPKC's marketing team is optimistically hoping to gain freight (as always) by taking trucks off the road.  Guessing they'll want to build brand loyalty between Kansas City and Laredo/Brownsville before the highways are complete.  Sharing this on the Texas I-69 thread as well.:

CP and KCS project dramatic rise in daily train counts

The Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger application highlights projected increases in traffic on the new railroad's north-south spine, as well as planned capacity improvements. (Trains.com, with information from CP-KCS)
WASHINGTON — Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern say their proposed merger will generate significant traffic growth, with daily train counts on the combined system's north-south spine projected to more than double within three years.

The traffic details were among those included in the railways' 4,342-page, 1-gigabyte merger application filed with U.S. regulators late Friday. The document, posted to the Surface Transportation Board website overnight Monday, includes Canadian Pacific Kansas City's operating plans, outlines capacity expansion projects, and makes projections for traffic and job growth that would flow from the creation of the first railroad to link Canada, the U.S., and Mexico.

https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews/news-wire/cp-and-kcs-project-dramatic-rise-in-daily-train-counts/?fbclid=IwAR0O-VcBN4JrVVuCyd8iUsNgSw8rbYAddESBAuadLV-c5f5p4x_H8HNXfmo

[MikieTimT]

This is an article today from TRAINS magazine on the impending Canadian Pacific/Kansas City Southern merger.  Though not a perfect parallel between Omaha and Winnipeg, it's fascinating how closely this network will parallel the Laredo/Brownsville-Houston-Minneapolis and Winnipeg-New Orleans corridors which the Texas I-69 and I-49 highway network will also serve.  The CPKC's marketing team is optimistically hoping to gain freight (as always) by taking trucks off the road.  Guessing they'll want to build brand loyalty between Kansas City and Laredo/Brownsville before the highways are complete.  Sharing this on the Texas I-69 thread as well.:

CP and KCS project dramatic rise in daily train counts

The Canadian Pacific-Kansas City Southern merger application highlights projected increases in traffic on the new railroad's north-south spine, as well as planned capacity improvements. (Trains.com, with information from CP-KCS)
WASHINGTON — Canadian Pacific and Kansas City Southern say their proposed merger will generate significant traffic growth, with daily train counts on the combined system's north-south spine projected to more than double within three years.

The traffic details were among those included in the railways' 4,342-page, 1-gigabyte merger application filed with U.S. regulators late Friday. The document, posted to the Surface Transportation Board website overnight Monday, includes Canadian Pacific Kansas City's operating plans, outlines capacity expansion projects, and makes projections for traffic and job growth that would flow from the creation of the first railroad to link Canada, the U.S., and Mexico.

https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews/news-wire/cp-and-kcs-project-dramatic-rise-in-daily-train-counts/?fbclid=IwAR0O-VcBN4JrVVuCyd8iUsNgSw8rbYAddESBAuadLV-c5f5p4x_H8HNXfmo

I would think this affects the I-35 corridor more, as there isn't much traffic taking I-49/US-71/I-49 to the KC area, except perhaps a little from Houston at this point.  It'll also affect the McDonald's in Gentry, AR quite a bit to go from 11 trains a day to 25.  There are several a day that stop there for a few minutes to get food on the way through town as the restaurant is just a few steps from the track, and with the overpass in town now, the rather long trains don't block any busy cross streets for more than a few minutes.  I suspect they call ahead for their food and have it ready for when they pull up.  What with truckers retiring at the rate they are, taking more trailerloads off the roads isn't going to have much of an adverse societal or roadfunding impact.

[Bobby5280]

Even though there is a really serious shortage of truck drivers (as well as shortage of drivers for anything else that requires a CDL) an increase in rail traffic on a corridor from a merged CP/KCS network isn't going to make all that much of a dent in truck traffic on I-35. The line running along the OK/AR border isn't exactly the Southern Transcon. And there is still huge numbers of trucks on the I-44/I-40 combo despite upwards of 100 trains per day on the Southern Transcon.

Freight rail is very important to the nation's infrastructure. But it doesn't go everywhere, or even to a lot of locations it used to serve. Thousands of miles worth of track has been removed just within the last 30 years. Even with some improvements, such as double-track upgrades to the main lines, trucks on highways are still going to be very necessary to get shipments to their destinations.