Highway 65 / 82 update in Arkansas

[msunat97]

Does anyone have an update on the progress of the 4 lane construction on Highway 65 & 82 around Lake Village, AR?

[okroads]

I was in this area on April 23, and all of US 65 from US 82/US 278 to Pine Bluff was 4 lanes. Construction to widen the section of US 82/US 278 from US 65 South to AR 142 (just west of the Greenville bridge) was well underway, as you can see below:

[bugo]

It's hard to tell from that picture, but is the new US 82 going to be 4 lanes divided or 5 lanes undivided?

[codyg1985]

It's hard to tell from that picture, but is the new US 82 going to be 4 lanes divided or 5 lanes undivided?

Looks like it may be five lanes undivided from that picture.

Seems like Arkansas does way more five lane undivided roads than they do four lane divided roads.

[US71]

It's hard to tell from that picture, but is the new US 82 going to be 4 lanes divided or 5 lanes undivided?

Looks like it may be five lanes undivided from that picture.

Seems like Arkansas does way more five lane undivided roads than they do four lane divided roads.

US 167 south of Batesville, AR is 5 lanes, even though there is no real reason.

[bjrush]

I was in the area in mid-May and most of US 65/US 82/US 278 around Lake Village had been paved, but some sections around the road to Lakeport Plantation and leading up to the bridge were not yet complete.

[Grzrd]

This article indicates that the last four-lane segment of U.S. Highway 65 between Pine Bluff and Lake Village is open:

The last four-lane segment of U.S. Highway 65 between Pine Bluff and Lake Village is open, completing a $200 million, 24-year project to widen about 80 miles of highway that runs through lush Delta farmland and has the promise of helping the region's economy.
The highway is still two lanes south of Lake Village through Eudora to the Louisiana line. But a project is under way to widen about 10 miles of U.S. 82 east from Lake Village, which leads to a new $366 million, four-lane bridge across the Mississippi River to Greenville, Miss.
Economic officials say the modernized highway will be an important trade route for transporting agricultural products .... When it's done, southeast Arkansas will have two four-lane, north-south highways, while southwest Arkansas continues to wait for its first one .... The U.S. 65 project is to be dedicated Thursday in two locations, Dumas and Pine Bluff. The work began in 1998 with a $3.9 million widening of the highway near Lake Village. The project was finally completed when a stretch of highway at Gould was recently finished.
In all, 19 separate road projects begun over the course of nearly a quarter-century picked away at the route, which runs through Dumas and McGehee and past the Varner and Cummins state prison units in Lincoln County and the Delta Regional Unit in Chicot County.

[bugo]

Parts of US 65 appear to have been built as 5 lane undivided highway but a Jersey barrier was later added.

[Road Hog]

This article indicates that the last four-lane segment of U.S. Highway 65 between Pine Bluff and Lake Village is open:

.... When it's done, southeast Arkansas will have two four-lane, north-south highways, while southwest Arkansas continues to wait for its first one ....

Um, southwest Arkansas has I-30.

[bugo]

North-south.

[Road Hog]

I'd like to see the N-S and E-W components, but in Arkansas I-30 seems to run about as much N-S as it does E-W. West of Texarkana it becomes primarily an E-W interstate.

[US71]

Parts of US 65 appear to have been built as 5 lane undivided highway but a Jersey barrier was later added.

There are a couple sections that were 2 Lane, then expanded to 4 with a Jersey Barrier... south of McGehee, I think. At least one still has a Divided Highway Ends sign... or did as of last year.

South of Lake Village, there usually isn't a lot of traffic unless you get stuck behind a semi.  If it's ever widened, it will be hell in Eudora: a lot of businesses are right up against the road.

[US71]

Oh, and if you have time to kill, take AR 159 south from Lake Village to Eudora: not a lot to see, but it's old US 65 

[msunat97]

Good to know that 65 is now all 4 lane from 530 to Lake Village.  I'll be glad when the section south of Lake Village will be completed to the Greenville River Bridge.  I usually make 1-2 trips through that area each year.  I hope Mississippi gets busy on the Greenville-Leland bypass.  That, along with this Highway 65 / 82 work, will make for a smoother drive to Starkville, MS & other points East.