I-49 One Step Closer to Being Realized

[KJW]

This is somewhat small as all the road was interstate quality, but metro Houston as of tomorrow will have an official 75-mile stretch of Texas I-69, which, again, will eventually link to I-49 both at Texarkana and Shreveport in the future.  Every little piece of this is significant.

 

Again, here is a big .pdf showing the projects being worked all along Texas future I-69 from Texarkana to Brownsville.

[KJW]

There's no way anyone at the AHTD could have foreseen that May 2015 would be the wettest month in history, especially in Texas and Oklahoma, but...

 

I don't know how many of you have seen the second round of Red River basin flooding from Tropical Storm Bill's remnants this weekend.  It nearly inundated the w a s h i t a River bridge (normally 25 feet above the river) below Tishomingo, OK...we'll have to see what shape that ends up being in.  But it's destroyed the U.S. 259 bridge between Idabel, OK and DeKalb, TX (often a popular alternate route to U.S. 71).  It's heavily damaged the Hwy. 78 bridge entry above Bonham, TX.  And it's said that a second round of flooding at Index (U.S. 71) predicted for this week may heavily damage that bridge where it will need significant repairs on the Arkansas side.

 

It's a pity we didn't have I-49 in place, because if the latter happens over half of the key Red River crossings between Denison, TX and Fulton, AR will be out of commission for awhile and there will be a lot of detours made.

[KJW]

Small news, but the striping appears to be on the Gun Range Road - Highway 72 section of the future Bella Vista Bypass (at least 2 lanes of it   ), and the shoulders and exits look pretty much ready as well.  I know they'd hoped to have it open last October, but I'm guessing we're approaching the "any day now" mark.  This will be the beginning of opening up west Bella Vista/the Highlands to the world...

[KJW]

Small news, but the striping appears to be on the Gun Range Road - Highway 72 section of the future Bella Vista Bypass (at least 2 lanes of it   ), and the shoulders and exits look pretty much ready as well.  I know they'd hoped to have it open last October, but I'm guessing we're approaching the "any day now" mark.  This will be the beginning of opening up west Bella Vista/the Highlands to the world...

AHTD says this segment has now been opened with a ribbon cutting ceremony to be scheduled in August.  (Not sure where they'll have it if the segment's opened, but  .) http://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=16040.0

[KJW]

Wow!  In a week full of "gem quotes" on the growth of Fort Smith/Northwest Arkansas (Doug McMillon saying NWA will have 1 million plus persons in 15 years, and the Fort Smith Southwest Times Record predicting the FSM metro to be at least 400,000 9 years later), here's ANOTHER fascinating thing from yesterday.  This is very, quietly big, if true...the "three B's" needed to get Arkansas' I-49 finished are the Bella Vista Bypass, the Bridge over the Arkansas River, and "the Big one" section from Greenwood to Texarkana.  And the week's not even finished yet : 

Owen offered updates on the I-49 bridge and the relocation of Highway 255 to Frontier Road as well as the widening of Frontier to five lanes. Concerning the I-49 bridge over the Arkansas River, Owen said engineering on the estimated $350 million project has been approved.

“The Highway Department has a policy that once they start the engineering on a project, they will complete it within 10 years, so some of the people in this room will be driving on that bridge in 10 years, and we couldn’t have said that three or four years ago,” Owen revealed to the Board. “It’s still at the top of the Governor’s priority list to get that done. That’s one thing that spearheaded this along, and our Highway Commissioner has been right on top of it.”

http://talkbusiness.net/2016/08/fcra-approves-high-volume-of-extensions-with-once-promised-large-shopping-center-project-in-limbo/

[KJW]

Update on the current Bella Vista Bypass and the Arkansas 112 Bypass:

Work is ongoing from Interstate 49 in north Bentonville, including a large roundabout and other interchange improvements. The road will be part of I-49 when completed. Base and concrete paving are in place from Arkansas 72 on the west to past Pumpkin Hollow Road, going east.

"Realistically, we're looking at right after the first of the year before we'll actually be opening the roundabout and sending traffic down the new bypass," Archer said. "There's going to be a lot of the work that will be completed, but once you complete that bulk work, there's a lot of cleanup, there's a lot of shoulder gravel to put on, you have to pave the shoulders with asphalt."

http://www.nwaonline.com/news/2016/sep/04/officials-happy-with-progress-of-two-no/