I-57 Approved

[bugo]

They've pretty much done just that north and east of Jacksonville up to Walnut Ridge.  South of and within Jacksonville, it was changed to AR-161 back in the 90's down to Prothro Junction on US-70

It's been signed as AR 161 since the early 1960s. Before that , it was US 67E.

[Road Hog]

The section extending east along McCain Avenue through the McAlmont community and joining up with the present-day AR 161 was US 67W.

[bugo]

The Belle Vista Bypass was reasonable due to the mountainous terrain of the route.

"Mountainous." Compared to what we have out here in New Mexico, those are hills!

Not that dick-waving shit again.

Compared to the Himalayas, your little New Mexico knolls are mere bumps in the road.

There are true mountains in Arkansas. They aren't as high above sea level as mountains to the west, but you have to take into consideration that the low point of New Mexico is higher than the high point of Arkansas, because the earth's crust is thicker in the Rockies than in the Ouachitas. So they have quite the head start.

[bugo]

The section extending east along McCain Avenue through the McAlmont community and joining up with the present-day AR 161 was US 67W.

Yes, Heading south on US 67 from Jacksonville, the highway split into US 67E and 67W at an Oklahoma Y at the Trammel Rd intersection. 67E ran along the east side of the railroad tracks, following today's AR 161 to Protho Junction, then west on US 70 to end at Locust and Broadway. US 67W briefly headed west on Trammel, went under the railroad and through another Oklahoma Y, then went south along the west side of the tracks on what is marked Roundtop Drive on Google Maps, west on McCain Blvd, south on Warden (The original curve from Roundtop to McCain along with the curve from McCain to Warden have both been obliterated), then west on Lakewood Rd, then southwest on what Google calls Barbara Dr, then south on Hills Blvd which turns into 13th Street. US 67W met AR 5 at 13th and Locust, which it followed south to Broadway/US 70, where the 67s reunited and headed south and across the river into Little Rock. Trivia: North Little Rock was once called Argenta. I like that name a lot better.

US 67 also split near Searcy for many years, and I've seen maps that show a 67E/67W split near Arkadelphia. I haven't seen an official ASHC map that showed this split, so I have my doubts it was ever official.

Here's an ASHC Pulaski County map, last revised on May 1, 1954. Note that US 67W is FAP while US 67E is FAS.

[bugo]

The "Jacksonville Freeway" opened in 1962 from the McCain exit to Vandenburg Blvd and extended to the Pulaski / Lonoke Co. line by 1965-66.

Did it tie directly into what is now AR 367 south of Cabot?

I remember back in the early 1990s, there was a US 367 error shield on northbound AR 367 just north of where it meets AR 5. Too bad I didn't think to take a picture of it.

[MikieTimT]

The Belle Vista Bypass was reasonable due to the mountainous terrain of the route.

"Mountainous." Compared to what we have out here in New Mexico, those are hills!

Not that dick-waving shit again.

Compared to the Himalayas, your little New Mexico knolls are mere bumps in the road.

There are true mountains in Arkansas. They aren't as high above sea level as mountains to the west, but you have to take into consideration that the low point of New Mexico is higher than the high point of Arkansas, because the earth's crust is thicker in the Rockies than in the Ouachitas. So they have quite the head start.

Yeah, it's not that the peaks are high, but that the valleys are low.  Elevation isn't the key factor, elevation change is.  There's no denying that Arkansas north and west of US-67, other than in the Arkansas River Valley and in the Gulf Coast Timberland region south of the Ouachitas, is anything other than craggy and tough to move dirt (rock) for roadbuilding.  I-49 north of I-40 has a number of very tall bridges and a tunnel for a reason.

Missouri's portion of the BVB was essentially rock blasting the cuts and using the fill in the valleys with a center barrier and tiny inner shoulders for several miles.

At least Arkansas is one of the few states with plans and a funding source to expand the Interstate Highway System within its borders to invest in the infrastructure necessary to grow itself and make logical connections, which is good for everyone given its central location in the country.  Not too bad for a state with the population and GDP that it has.  Most other states are just scrambling to add lanes in existing routes.  It takes forever and winds up less straight that any of us would like because of the system of "connecting the bypasses" with Super-2's that we do typically, but it does eventually happen.  And without long-term debt.

I-57's most difficult portion is in Jacksonville and is already underway, but will take 4 years with the growth right up to the edge of it making lots of moving and rebuilding necessary to bring things up to standard.  The roadbuilding in the border region with Missouri is only difficult in regards to floodplains, but at least no navigable rivers need to be crossed, unlike the other Interstate projects in the works (or not really in the works, in I-69's case) in other parts of the state.  Just 14 mile portion of I-49 from I-40 to Barling that includes the Arkansas River crossing will take as much funding as going from Walnut Ridge to the border, although that does include finishing out the 4 level stack at Alma.

[Road Hog]

The "Jacksonville Freeway" opened in 1962 from the McCain exit to Vandenburg Blvd and extended to the Pulaski / Lonoke Co. line by 1965-66.

Did it tie directly into what is now AR 367 south of Cabot?

I remember back in the early 1990s, there was a US 367 error shield on northbound AR 367 just north of where it meets AR 5. Too bad I didn't think to take a picture of it.

I know the freeway was built up to AR 89 in Cabot by 1970. I know this because there used to be a bunch of old signs there with the date etched on the back by AHTD. Those signs are long gone, of course.

[I-39]

When are they going to start the next section of Future I-57 in Missouri south of the Route 158 interchange?

[Road Hog]

Commuter traffic going to Cabot would be better served with a full Coffelt Crossing interchange and/or a slip ramp to the north access road in advance of Exit 16, but the city of Cabot doesn't want to improve Old 367 between the county line and AR 5.

Exit 16 is a hot mess for eastbound exiters because of the geometry for outbound commuters.

The old road is no longer state-maintained and hasn't been since the late '60s, and it's showing it.

[edwaleni]

When are they going to start the next section of Future I-57 in Missouri south of the Route 158 interchange?

Already have. They are reconfiguring the exit ramps at MO-158. Finish Date Nov. 2023.

[The Ghostbuster]

Is there anyone of the belief that the Interstate 57 extension should have been numbered as an extension of Interstate 30 instead? I don't, however, I do know that if the 30 designation had been applied, AR 226 may have been upgraded to Interstate Standards and numbered Interstate 730. One good thing about numbering it 57 is that a north-south number makes more sense, and the exits along the US 67 corridor will not have to be renumbered an increased by 145 (of course, if Interstate 530 ultimately becomes a further extension of 57, they will have to be renumbered).

[Road Hog]

Is there anyone of the belief that the Interstate 57 extension should have been numbered as an extension of Interstate 30 instead? I don't, however, I do know that if the 30 designation had been applied, AR 226 may have been upgraded to Interstate Standards and numbered Interstate 730. One good thing about numbering it 57 is that a north-south number makes more sense, and the exits along the US 67 corridor will not have to be renumbered an increased by 145 (of course, if Interstate 530 ultimately becomes a further extension of 57, they will have to be renumbered).

I do that math anyway when driving up I-30 to 67. The US 64 Beebe exit is 173 miles from Texarkana, for example (145 + 28).

[bugo]

They should have made the US 67/US 60 freeway an extension of I-30. It makes no sense for one of the two or three most important highways in the state to have two designations, while Missouri, which the new Interstate will only clip the corner of, gets a through number. One reason the I-57 designation sucks is because the US 67 corridor divides the state in half between the hilly north/west and the flat south/east. It would have been easier to say "Northwest of I-30" than to say "Northwest of I-30/I-40/I-57. Arkansas should have stuck to its guns, and the designations should change at I-55.

[bugo]

Speaking of Cabot and AR 367, has anybody noticed that a section of AR 367 and a section of AR 89 have been decommissioned in Cabot? AR 89 now has (another) gap in it, from US 67-167 to the Pine/2nd intersection. AR 367 also ends at the Pine/2nd intersection. The section of what was now AR 367 from the US 67-167 interchange about a mile and a half north is now AR 367S, while the section of 2nd north to the Pine/2nd intersection is no longer a part of the state highway system. ArDOT is getting fucking ridiculous with its decommissioning of roads, sometimes leaving a short gap along the route. Some business US highways now only connect to the parent route at one end. They should at least sign the parts that are no longer on the state highway system. ArrrrghDOT is somehow worse than AHTD was. Absolutely ridiculous.

The Cabot inset of the 2023 official Arkansas highway map shows the missing segment.

[bugo]

This is from the summer 1984 issue of Arkansas Highways magazine. I had no idea there was an at grade on US 67-167 as late as 1984. I used to drive this stretch frequently in the early 1990s, and I didn't know about it.

[Anthony_JK]

Is there anyone of the belief that the Interstate 57 extension should have been numbered as an extension of Interstate 30 instead? I don't, however, I do know that if the 30 designation had been applied, AR 226 may have been upgraded to Interstate Standards and numbered Interstate 730. One good thing about numbering it 57 is that a north-south number makes more sense, and the exits along the US 67 corridor will not have to be renumbered an increased by 145 (of course, if Interstate 530 ultimately becomes a further extension of 57, they will have to be renumbered).

I still stand by my original opinion that upgraded US 67 should have been I-53 to Popular Bluff/Festus. I-30 should not go north of I-40 for half the length of the state. If that is so important, then move I-30 to an upgraded US 82 corridor from Texarkana through El Dorado, Monticello, and Greenville on eastward, and make the Texarkana to Little Rock section of I-30 into an I-34 or I-36 (including perhaps the I-440/AR 440 loop east to US 67. The orphaned N/S section of I-30 through Little Rock can then become I-51 and extended along I-530/AR 530/US 425/US 165 to Monroe/Alexandria/Lake Charles.)

Yes, mostly Fictional, but it is what it is until it isn't. Otherwise, I-57 is fine by me.

[bugo]

Here is a view of an interesting house near Howe, Oklahoma. US 59 was relocated in the mid 1970s, and OK 83 was extended about a quarter mile west to meet the new highway. A small part of the house was in the ROW, and when the land the house was on was condemned, the owner modified the house by simply tearing down the part of the house that was in the ROW. I don't know if ODOT refused to buy the entire property the house is on, or if the owner just tore down that part of the house and pocketed the money. I learned about this in high school in US Government class of all places.

[bugo]

They are converting the access roads in that 2 mile stretch to 1 way on each side.  The local traffic should be more than handled with 2 lane access roads on each side.

They're just getting around converting those lanes? I remember back in the early 1990s when they converted the frontage roads north of McCain Blvd to one way. I believe they converted the I-30 frontage roads through Benton at around the same time.

[Rick Powell]

Here is a view of an interesting house near Howe, Oklahoma. US 59 was relocated in the mid 1970s, and OK 83 was extended about a quarter mile west to meet the new highway. A small part of the house was in the ROW, and when the land the house was on was condemned, the owner modified the house by simply tearing down the part of the house that was in the ROW. I don't know if ODOT refused to buy the entire property the house is on, or if the owner just tore down that part of the house and pocketed the money. I learned about this in high school in US Government class of all places.

Not unheard of. I had a project on US34 in Plano IL where the owner, rather than taking a settlement that would have removed his building, instead paid a contractor to shave the front 5 feet off of it at the new right of way line, leaving a slightly smaller but fully functional business in place. I am sure the owner of the house in Oklahoma got paid something, if the state acquired land that part of a house was formerly located on. Usually if any part of a residential house is touched by an acquisition, a settlement will be offered to take the entire house.

[Road Hog]

This is from the summer 1984 issue of Arkansas Highways magazine. I had no idea there was an at grade on US 67-167 as late as 1984. I used to drive this stretch frequently in the early 1990s, and I didn't know about it.

There was also the farm crossing at the very spot of the 440 interchange today. That lasted about as long as Coffelt Crossing.

[The Ghostbuster]

Once Interstate 57 is designated along the US 67 corridor, AR 440 can become an extension of Interstate 440. I know the 440 extension to the junction of Interstates 40 and 430 was eliminated in 2014: https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/mar/20/board-removes-north-belt-freeway-from-plan/. Any chance that may be revived or even constructed (assuming the military base isn't a barrier to constructing the roadway)?

[Road Hog]

Once Interstate 57 is designated along the US 67 corridor, AR 440 can become an extension of Interstate 440. I know the 440 extension to the junction of Interstates 40 and 430 was eliminated in 2014: https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/mar/20/board-removes-north-belt-freeway-from-plan/. Any chance that may be revived or even constructed (assuming the military base isn't a barrier to constructing the roadway)?

Camp Robinson is the least of the worries. The area has just gotten too built up for the North Belt to be done cost-effectively. Besides, I've already posted that AR 89 from Lonoke to Cabot to Mayflower appears to be the future northern bypass looking way down the road.

[capt.ron]

This is from the summer 1984 issue of Arkansas Highways magazine. I had no idea there was an at grade on US 67-167 as late as 1984. I used to drive this stretch frequently in the early 1990s, and I didn't know about it.

On the Historic ariels website, there is a picture of the at-grade at Coffelt. It went sometime in the early 1980's. By the time the mid 1980's arrived, the only at-grade was the "tractor crossing" just southwest of Jacksonville which was there until the early 1990's.
Nice pic of the "exit 14". I'm surprised AHTD assigned a number to it since it was an official interchange. In hindsight, they could have made that into a RI/RO setup.

[Road Hog]

This is from the summer 1984 issue of Arkansas Highways magazine. I had no idea there was an at grade on US 67-167 as late as 1984. I used to drive this stretch frequently in the early 1990s, and I didn't know about it.

On the Historic ariels website, there is a picture of the at-grade at Coffelt. It went sometime in the early 1980's. By the time the mid 1980's arrived, the only at-grade was the "tractor crossing" just southwest of Jacksonville which was there until the early 1990's.
Nice pic of the "exit 14". I'm surprised AHTD assigned a number to it since it was an official interchange. In hindsight, they could have made that into a RI/RO setup.

I'm sure the reason they didn't was because the traffic headed to Cabot would have overwhelmed the 2-lane frontage road leading to Old 67 and eventually AR 367. They wanted to funnel that traffic through Exit 16.

That frontage road still stacks up going north because people exit at Vandenberg and stay on it to Cabot, so the AR 5-367-321 intersection stacks up in two directions anyway. The geometry of that whole exit is FUBAR. The traffic light is too close to the exit ramp and the queue goes out to the main lanes.

[edwaleni]

I went through the Missouri governor budget veto line items and noticed he removed the money for the land acquisition/utility move for the US-67/I-57 work south of Poplar Bluff.