235 replies to this topic

[Mith242]

KJW, on Sep 21 2007, 09:23 AM, said:

Mith, I like Bella Vista a lot.  It's a very nice community in many ways.  Yet I'm glad I don't live there right now as I'd be steamed.  KHBS/KHOG TV had a lead story on this last night.  A lady they interviewed said people have been waiting a long time for this.  They also interviewed Mr. Barnett (the Ark. Hwy Commish who was at the Missouri highway ribbon-cutting ceremony last month) and he said this still is very much an active project.

itk, do you know what the daily traffic count on U.S. 71 within the BV city limits is?  Even if its only 10,000 vehicles at 33% alleviation that's still 3,300 the tollway would see, which in an average day would translate to 2.29 vehicles per minute every minute every hour of the day.

I do know where you're coming from.  But I have to also say there are people in other areas as well waiting for decades for some of these larger road projects to be done.  I do think it will be done.  I think all of this is just making the wait longer before it finally happens.

[Aporkalypse]

KJW, on Sep 20 2007, 10:03 PM, said:

Aporkalypse, not that it matters much but as has been said previously Missouri has a southbound turnoff lane (blocked by concrete) and cutaways out of the stone for a northbound merge-access bridge for the BV bypass...they're serious about this.  (As apparently was Arkansas with the state highway commissioner attending the recent Jane/Anderson segment opening ceremonies).

Amusing banter on the comments accompanying today's article:

Don't misunderstand, I think it still needs to be built.  What I mean is that the study's numbers disappoint me in that not only do they mean less toll revenue but that it will really hurt the case for federal funding for the project as ridership demand is now more questionable.


How much of Missouri's improvements to 71 were made out of state funds vs federal funds?  Did the state actually pay the bulk of that or was this something federal funds were assigned to long ago?

[KJW]

Aporkalypse, on Sep 21 2007, 03:12 PM, said:

How much of Missouri's improvements to 71 were made out of state funds vs federal funds?  Did the state actually pay the bulk of that or was this something federal funds were assigned to long ago?

Aporkalypse,

Apparently the funds for the most recent Hwy. 71/future I-49 project came from the state, and fairly recently:

Quote

Barnett said traditional fuel sales taxes are no longer enough to pay for extensive road projects.

When Missouri voters approved Amendment 3 in 2004, providing millions of dollars for road work, the Highway 71 project was pushed forward and completed a full year ahead of schedule, he said.

The link.

(EDIT: Also, State Rep. Donna Hutchinson says there are 32,300 vehicles driving daily between the Missouri State Line and Bentonville via BV.)

Edited by KJW, 21 September 2007 - 03:22 PM.

[Aporkalypse]

KJW, on Sep 21 2007, 04:18 PM, said:

Aporkalypse,

Apparently the funds for the most recent Hwy. 71/future I-49 project came from the state, and fairly recently:
(EDIT: Also, State Rep. Donna Hutchinson says there are 32,300 vehicles driving daily between the Missouri State Line and Bentonville via BV.)

I guess my point about the number is that 33k is a pretty unimpressive number when you're trying to justify the need for such an expensive project.  By comparison, several ordinary roads in LR all have higher traffic counts - University, Markham, Cantrell, Rodney Parham, Chenal, Bowman, McCain, JFK, etc.


A simple google search told me that the portions of  Highway 71 in Newton and McDonald Counties alone received more than $77 million in dedicated federal funding.


Part of this will have to be federally funded, so the question is what can we do to increase the federal priority for the bypass?  I would think the main issue would be the safety of having semis and other highway traffic traveling through the main portion of town with stoplights, etc.  That's the real reason I think the bypass should be built.

[cowbreath]

KJW, on Aug 31 2007, 01:40 PM, said:

That's a good map, it just doesn't seem that we have enough traffic in our region for much notice.  Looking at the east it looks a lot worse.

[KJW]

cowbreath, on Sep 21 2007, 08:27 PM, said:

That's a good map, it just doesn't seem that we have enough traffic in our region for much notice.  Looking at the east it looks a lot worse.

Cowbreath, that map is a bit dated.  The interstate between Texarkana and Shreveport isn't shown (the Louisiana portion isn't started but they're working on the final part of the Arkansas side), nor does it show the interstate-quality portions between Jane and Joplin and Joplin and Kansas City.  If those were shown the Canada-New Orleans(/Texas) corridor here taking shape would be a lot more evident (as would the gaps in same).

[itk]

KJW, on Sep 21 2007, 09:23 AM, said:

itk, do you know what the daily traffic count on U.S. 71 within the BV city limits is? Even if its only 10,000 vehicles at 33% alleviation that's still 3,300 the tollway would see, which in an average day would translate to 2.29 vehicles per minute every minute every hour of the day.

Roughly 30,000 average.... at the northern end, ~20,000 I think, and at the very southern end near Lowe's, about ~45,000.

[Mith242]

More bad news for the section around Bella Vista, the future Bella Vista bypass.  Since Arkansas is lacking in funds to do anything about the bypass.  Missouri has decided to use the funding it had set aside for the section that would have been in their state for other purposes.  This looks like a road project that's not going to be started for a while.

[KJW]

itk, on Sep 25 2007, 07:36 PM, said:

Roughly 30,000 average.... at the northern end, ~20,000 I think, and at the very southern end near Lowe's, about ~45,000.

(These were numbers from itk for traffic on U.S. 71 in Bella Vista.  As a comparison, here's traffic on the two current Interstate bridges between West Memphis, AR and Memphis per an article today.)

Quote

The Highway Department counts indicate that 54, 420 vehicles traveled across the I-40 bridge daily last year. An additional 49, 800 crossed the I-55 span each day in 2006. Those numbers reflect a 10 percent increase in traffic flow over the past 10 years.

http://www.nwarktime...dg/News/207907/

[jdevers]

KJW, on Nov 17 2007, 08:47 AM, said:

(These were numbers from itk for traffic on U.S. 71 in Bella Vista.  As a comparison, here's traffic on the two current Interstate bridges between West Memphis, AR and Memphis per an article today.)

For another comparison, I540 in north Fayetteville had 56,000 cars per day in 2001 which was over a 100% increase over 1991 (27,880).  The 2011 estimate for the same spot is 84,000.  That spot is also very poorly designed for that level of traffic flow.

NWARPC

[thewizard16]

jdevers, on Nov 17 2007, 01:43 PM, said:

For another comparison, I540 in north Fayetteville had 56,000 cars per day in 2001 which was over a 100% increase over 1991 (27,880).  The 2011 estimate for the same spot is 84,000.  That spot is also very poorly designed for that level of traffic flow.

NWARPC

Yes it is. I'm amazed there aren't more side-swipe accidents considering how strangely 540 runs through north Fayetteville.

[KJW]

A brief aside...

I mentioned the News (Of Bentonville/Springdale/Rogers/Fayetteville) quoting a study back in 2002 saying Fort Smith would grow as big as NWA someday if I-49 is finished between Canada and New Orleans (not to mention the proposed Houston/Rio Grande interstate connection at Shreveport).

This is small enough at this time but...developers have been literally moving a small mountain for a new shopping center in Fort Smith, and in this article is a quote that if one wanted to put their finger on the "dead center of (ostensibly, Fort Smith) town" this mall, on Rogers avenue at least a mile or two east of the bypass, would be that spot.

Interesting choice of words.  I'm not reading that he believes I-49 will be constructed soon, but if it ever is the proposed route will run east of that new shopping center.  And that location is FAR east of where the center of Fort Smith used to be and geographically still is...

[Mith242]

Being at the junction of two interstates can be helpful.  But I think Ft Smith will have to find a way to benefit from it.  I think some have tried to rely on an interstate to solve all their problems about job growth.  I think an interstate gives you more opportunities but you still have to find a way to take advantage of the situation.  Either way I still think it's going to be quite a while before I-49 is completed.

[beaux30]

sleepy, on Jul 17 2005, 08:09 PM, said:

I-49 in Louisiana has been finished for years and, no, there are no plans to connect it to New Orleans nor would there be any reason to. It ends in Lafayette which is already connected to New Orleans by I-10. Anyone traveling south on 49 and wanting to go to New Orleans from Shreveport would get off on Hwy 169 which is a freeway from Opelousas to Baton Rouge which connects to I-10.

There's no reason to take I-49 north of Kansas City. Where would it go? There's already I-29 which goes through Omaha, Fargo, and up to Canada, and I-35 which goes to Des Moines, Minneapolis, and Duluth.

I-49 is not completely finished south of Lafayette, LA.  There are plans currently to extend it to New Orleans in the path for the most part that Highway 90 takes between Lafayette and NO.

[KJW]

Had to dig for this but...anyone remember how the Obama administration awarded a handsome (giggle) total of $8 million for the finishing of I-49 in NWA?

Well, I have to hand it to whatever local government entity took the lead...if anyone's driven between Bentonville and Gravette lately through Hiwasse (in the news mainly now for choosing to be annexed by Gravette rather than Bella Vista) you are not only seeing dirt moved but PAVEMENT LAID for this project.  There's a strange-looking structure (a series of metal pipe stuck vertically into the ground marking something) to the right of the highway as you cross what will obviously be an interchange (they're digging the lanes) but asphalt/concrete/whatever has been poured and flattened what looks at least a 1/2 mile or more to the west.  The future road appears to dip down out of Missouri just west of the western Bella Vista boundary, and cross the existing highway about 1-2 miles of Hiwasse before curving to the east where the aformentioned pavement is being put in place.  The "Stimulus project" signs are up also marking where this money came from.

I won't forget how Missouri was ready to go but we in Arkansas couldn't get our plans together so the Show-me state funds went somewhere else.  I hope this doesn't become a "highway to nowhere"...as a Bella Vista resident I'm so happy to see this FINALLY being started on.  As an NWA resident I think it will mean incredible things if ("IF") indeed we can have a seamless Interstate-quality four-lane all the way south from I-44 to I-40 when this would be finished.

[Mith242]

KJW, on 22 January 2012 - 01:40 PM, said:

Had to dig for this but...anyone remember how the Obama administration awarded a handsome (giggle) total of $8 million for the finishing of I-49 in NWA?

Well, I have to hand it to whatever local government entity took the lead...if anyone's driven between Bentonville and Gravette lately through Hiwasse (in the news mainly now for choosing to be annexed by Gravette rather than Bella Vista) you are not only seeing dirt moved but PAVEMENT LAID for this project.  There's a strange-looking structure (a series of metal pipe stuck vertically into the ground marking something) to the right of the highway as you cross what will obviously be an interchange (they're digging the lanes) but asphalt/concrete/whatever has been poured and flattened what looks at least a 1/2 mile or more to the west.  The future road appears to dip down out of Missouri just west of the western Bella Vista boundary, and cross the existing highway about 1-2 miles of Hiwasse before curving to the east where the aformentioned pavement is being put in place.  The "Stimulus project" signs are up also marking where this money came from.

I won't forget how Missouri was ready to go but we in Arkansas couldn't get our plans together so the Show-me state funds went somewhere else.  I hope this doesn't become a "highway to nowhere"...as a Bella Vista resident I'm so happy to see this FINALLY being started on.  As an NWA resident I think it will mean incredible things if ("IF") indeed we can have a seamless Interstate-quality four-lane all the way south from I-44 to I-40 when this would be finished.

Yeah having I-540 run from I-40 to I-44 would be great.  It is a shame that because we couldn't get that section just around Bella Vista now who knows how long we'll have to wait.  I guess it's one of the unfortunate things of being off in a corner of the state.