I-49 in Arkansas

[edwaleni]

Hope is already served by Interstate 30. Rerouting Interstate 49 way out there would be ludicrous.

THere seemed to be some crazy idea that the reason it was not getting built across the Red River yet somehow had something to do with Texas and the cost of the bridges. If history has any precedent, Arkansas will pay for little (or nothing) of the cost for the bridges themselves anyway.

Due to the shifting of the Red River over the intervening years, Arkansas has less river to cross on their side of the state line.  But it was my understanding that Texas has precedence for Red River bridging and TxDOT would be the lead agency if/when they decide to build them.

It's not so much the shifting of the river as much as the position of the river when the boundary was set in 1836-1845 and which state has statutory control of it.

I agree and think we said the same thing. The river has moved, but the state line hasnt.

The area where the bridge was to cross, the river has shifted further south, putting more of the "water crossing" part of the bridge in Texas and less in Arkansas.

[bwana39]

Hope is already served by Interstate 30. Rerouting Interstate 49 way out there would be ludicrous.

THere seemed to be some crazy idea that the reason it was not getting built across the Red River yet somehow had something to do with Texas and the cost of the bridges. If history has any precedent, Arkansas will pay for little (or nothing) of the cost for the bridges themselves anyway.

Due to the shifting of the Red River over the intervening years, Arkansas has less river to cross on their side of the state line.  But it was my understanding that Texas has precedence for Red River bridging and TxDOT would be the lead agency if/when they decide to build them.

It's not so much the shifting of the river as much as the position of the river when the boundary was set in 1836-1845 and which state has statutory control of it.

NO. You have the idea, but the where had little to do with the river itself.

Per current statute, the state line is at the vegetation line (or High Water Mark) on the Texas side as of the date Arkansas joined the U.S. (first). Texas has very limited access to the river; only at places where the river has tracked back into what was Texas pre 1836. You have to have an Arkansas Hunting or Fishing license to hunt or fish in the river or the river bank on the Arkansas side of the vegetation line. There is no exception for the property owners on the Texas side.

The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission Game Wardens patrol the river and the sand bars like Trump era border patrol on the Rio Grande. Texas Non-Arkansas residents cannot have an ATV on the sand bars without an Arkansas Hunting or Fishing Licence even without any tackle or weapons.

Now to the Highway. When the US-71 bridges were built at index, Arkansas paid little. On the first bridge, which begins in Texas and ends in Arkansas .Arkansas provided in-kind items for their portion of the bridge. They furnished the Right-or-way. Texas actually paid their portion of the 20% (at that point, the Fed Funds were earmarked for a given project.) . The later, second, bridge begins and ends in Arkansas. TxDOT paid their portion of both the state share and the fed share. Ironically. it took several years for Arkansas to connect the second bridge on the north side of the Red River. I guess that must have been about Texas dragging their feet ?

TxDOT tends to be the lead agency on all of the bridges across the Red River. I think that is primarily because they have a larger engineering staff. Yes, I feel comfortable that TxDOT will be the lead agency, but I figure it will be a decade or more from now when ArDOT decides to be in a bttw rush to start and finish.

[silverback1065]

I don't check this thread much so apologies if this has been said, but is I-49 no longer going to swing into texas for a few miles then back into arkansas in the texarkana area?

[bwana39]

Yes, it is still planned to have a looping about 10-mile stretch in Texas beginning adjacent to US-71  northeast  of Texarkana and ending at a crossing of the Red River near the community of Richmond AR.

The point where it will cross the Red River has remained unchanged for over 30 years. The path from south of Texarkana AR to the river changed a little over ten years ago.

[silverback1065]

I'm surprised Texas hasn't already done their portion, they're moving super fast with 69 and 2, haven't seen any progress on 49. They could finish that in 1 quick project.

[bwana39]

The road that is now AR-151 is part of the reason why TxDOT is in no hurry. The original plan was to build " New US-71" from about the current junction of US-71 and I-49 around the west (Texas) side of town. Texas built the portion from I-30 to US-59 (Lake Drive) quickly. Then the portion to south State Line. Arkansas proceeded to build  AR-245 (the I-130 project) out. There was a gap between US-71 and the Texas state line for nearly ten years.

Unless you have a signed contract from the Arkansas HIGHWAY COMMISSION coordination and planning doesn't mean squat and even then that is generally still subject to their wims.  They can and do not hold the decisions of the previous commissioners as law or even agreement.

Arkansas is run as the Republic of Arkansas.