Is AR 530 (Future I-530) really necessary?

[US71]

I would like to see US 65 become 4 lane divided from the US 82-65 split (Lake Village) to I-20. But if the powers at be insist on another connector corridor, I would say upgrade US 425 to interstate standards and use as much of that as possible. And bypass areas that cannot be upgraded (ROW issues, etc.)

Both highways would likely have lots of bypasses. AR 530 is almost a bypass of 425 now as it has taken most of the log trucks around Star City.

[TXtoNJ]

Why extend to I-20 in Louisiana? Wouldn't it make a much larger regional impact to be extended to Vicksburg or Jackson, coupled with an upgrade of US 49 and US 98 to Mobile? That would have an immense impact as the most direct route between Oklahoma, Kansas City, Arkansas and the MS/AL Gulf Coast, along with all of Florida.

[The Ghostbuster]

I assume once AR 530 is upgraded to Interstate 530, the portion of Interstate 530 from exit 44 to exit 46 will be removed from the Interstate System, and just be US 63/65/79. As for whether AR 530 is neccessary, if the traffic demand is there, I would say yes. If the demand isn't there, perhaps not.

[US71]

I assume once AR 530 is upgraded to Interstate 530, the portion of Interstate 530 from exit 44 to exit 46 will be removed from the Interstate System, and just be US 63/65/79. As for whether AR 530 is necessary, if the traffic demand is there, I would say yes. If the demand isn't there, perhaps not.

Most of the traffic I saw was logging trucks. The whole corridor is a major logging area, as is US 79 south of Pine Bluff. Non-commercial traffic seemed almost non-existent.