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I-49 One Step Closer to Being Realized


johnnydr87

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We'll see, but I've posted a question on the AA Roads board.  As of tomorrow (officially) unless someone has a different answer Northwest Arkansas may be the only metro area with a population of a half million or more (whose metro boundary doesn't end at another country and/or at a large body of water) without a through interstate.  Working on that.  :thumbsup: 

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We'll see, but I've posted a question on the AA Roads board.  As of tomorrow (officially) unless someone has a different answer Northwest Arkansas may be the only metro area with a population of a half million or more (whose metro boundary doesn't end at another country and/or at a large body of water) without a through interstate.  Working on that.  :thumbsup: 

Interesting, I never really thought about that.  You'll have to let us know what you find out.

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Here's the Arkansas Business story on the Arcbest new headquarters announcement today.  Urban Planet friends, I think they very much see what's coming down the road (no pun intended) even though I-49 Arkansas is far from complete yet.  Same for Joplin, where sparkling new regional facilities for employers such as Con-Way trucking are alreayd built:  http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article/99014/arcbest-corp-to-build-new-HQ-in-fort-smith

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Julles, it's gettin' even more "real" now...there was a lot of low hanging smoke east of the community formerly known as "Hiwasse".  They're now burning off underbrush and digging out the carriageway on the far west side of the section which will end at current I-49 at the Bentonville/B.V. line (and where excavation is taking place now.  This summer we will see the path of this future interstate through the hills of north Bentonville (city limits and/or mailing address).

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  • 2 weeks later...

NWA Urban Planet friends, this map below is "busy" to say the least, but a forest green marking down at the lower left corner shoudl be of prime interest to us.  It looks like Project 7PO601-H is the Missouri side of the Bella Vista Bypass, which according to this guide is scheduled for construction in 2018.  If the proposed tax for transportation is passed by Missouri voters this August is passed, the construction timetable could be moved up.  More on this here and below on the attached link...I-49 is here in NWA, now the finished B V B is getting closer:  http://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=3324.msg304900#msg304900


060914_modotstip.jpg

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Urban Planet NWA friends, if you want to see how serious Texas is about "their" I-69, and how serious this is for Arkansas, take a look at this .pdf from March of this year from the Texas DOT on the various segments of that interstate system (which splits in south Texas like a bent trident to take in Laredo, McAllen and Brownsville with their Mexican connections) under construction or under project development..this spans something like 34-35 counties in the Lone Star State!  The vise is tightening ever so slowly around Alma-to-Texarkana.

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Urban Planet NWA friends, if you want to see how serious Texas is about "their" I-69, and how serious this is for Arkansas, take a look at this .pdf from March of this year from the Texas DOT on the various segments of that interstate system (which splits in south Texas like a bent trident to take in Laredo, McAllen and Brownsville with their Mexican connections) under construction or under project development..this spans something like 34-35 counties in the Lone Star State!  The vise is tightening ever so slowly around Alma-to-Texarkana.

 

Though physically this is closer to our Texarkana friend Bigboyz, it will eventually affect NWA.  The final Miller County stretch of I-49 south of that city to the Louisiana state line is now expected to open between late August - early September.  South Miller County is expecting growth from I-49 and is looking for development (not tourism appeal of "the legend of Boggy Creek") from this highway to spur it, as well as a welcome center.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Told you that there would be an ever-building interest in finishing this!  What's interesting is that they're working to build a coalition supporting first the building of the I-49 Arkansas River bridge and finishing the 13-mile segment it's part of between Alma and Barling:

 

 

http://swtimes.com/news/interstate-dedication-slated-wednesday

 

It was announced Thursday that a dedication ceremony for Interstate 49, “the future for the next generation,” will be held next week in Alma.
 
The ceremony will celebrate the U.S. Department of Transportation officially designating Interstate 540 from Alma north to the Missouri border as Interstate 49, according to a joint news release from the Fort Chaffee Redevelopment Authority and Alma Area Chamber of Commerce.
 
The dedication ceremony will take place at 11 a.m. Wednesday in the parking lot of Grace Church of Alma at 330 Rudy Road.
 
“That parking lot there has a great view of I-49,” FCRA Executive Director Ivy Owen said Thursday. “What’s so important about this is that it puts the onus now on the (Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department) to get the rest of this done. It’s I-49 all the way to Bella Vista until you get to Alma. This section will be I-549, our 6.5 miles, until it connects to I-49.”
 
....
 
Expected at next week’s ceremony is AHTD Commissioner Dick Trammel and a number of local leaders. Trammel, former state Rep. Ed Thicksten, Owen and I-49 International Coalition executive director Gard Wayt will speak. Following their remarks, AHTD workers will unveil a new I-49 sign on the Rudy Road Interstate 40 overpass. ....
 
Wednesday’s ceremony is also touted as the launch of an “I-49 Build the Bridge” campaign.
“Representatives of cities, counties, chambers of commerce and other public works entities across the western Arkansas region are banding together to show a concerted, cohesive push to secure funding for the 13-mile stretch of I-49 south of Alma that will connect at Chaffee Crossing, including a new bridge across the Arkansas River,” the news release states.
 

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I could put this under "Fort Smith" as well, but choose to keep it under "I-49":

 

 

By the yard, undoubtedly the most expensive and challenging piece of the I-49 puzzle remaining undone is that new bridge across the Arkansas River.

 
Thus, on Wednesday, community leaders will celebrate the signage that renames Interstate 540 from Alma north as Interstate 49. And they will grab that opportunity and all the media attention it garners to begin the I-49 Build the Bridge campaign.
 
And before you decide that’s a fool’s errand, take note of the guy heading up the effort: former state Rep. Ed Thicksten. Folks from Crawford County will tell you, that’s a force to be reckoned with. He knows how to get it done from his time in the Legislature, when funding for that newly renamed stretch of highway was appropriated.
 
And he knows the stakes: “I think we have boundless opportunities here to move the river valley forward just like northwest Arkansas, and that bridge across the Arkansas River can be the key to our success.”
 
So if you’re not doing anything else Wednesday, we recommend you join the crowd in Alma looking at the future.
 
We’ve just about built the road. Now it’s time to Build the Bridge. You want to be there when it happens.
 

 

 

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Citing a map showing the mean population center of the United States now on the border of Laclede and Pulaski counties in South Central Missouri, he said, “In the 2020 Census, it is quite possible that Neosho or some area within a few miles of us would be the mean population center of the United States. Meaning exactly half of the population will reside east of us and exactly half of the population will reside to the west of us. So we are perfectly located not just geographically, but in terms of the distribution of our population as well.”

 

 

Four page article in today's Neosho paper about a planned intermodal facility there which would make it a distribution hub for "the four states".  This transportation corridor really is a very big deal regardless of whether this facility comes to pass or not: http://www.neoshodailynews.com/article/20140630/NEWS/140639877/1994/NEWS

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Is there major rail thoroughfare East/West in Neosho? If not it sounds more like a stub, than a hub.

While a major roundhouse is beneficial at a midpoint location (LR)/(KC), I don't see a distribution hub as effective at this location.

 

Yes there is.  The BNSF St. Louis/Memphis (joined at Springfield) section of that railroad's transcontinental mainline to California goes through Neosho and has a connecting wye to the Kansas City Southern KC-to-Gulf (and Mexico) mainline at Neosho.  Plus, I-44 and I-49 intersect just north of the Newton County (county seat: Neosho) line.

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This isn't I-49, but it's the I-49 corridor.  The Kansas City Southern railroad is getting more oil business with a significant terminal planned for Port Arthur, TX.  Not in this article, there are also more KCS oil trains getting ready to be scheduled for Baton Rouge.

 

If these follow the original Arthur Stilwell KCS mainline from Kansas City to Shreveport to Beaumont/Port Arthur or New Orleans, it's further evidence of how crucial this shortest of routes from Kansas City (which was the nation's second key railroad junction after Chicago) to the Gulf of Mexico really is.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Setback...Missouri voted down Amendment 7 yesterday, which would have been a massive highway tax (biggest in state history) for infrastructure improvements.  Their section of the Bella Vista Bypass was at the top of the list for funding that, and when they move to build, they MOVE.  I don't know now when this will happen on their side...maybe in the next 10 years.

 

In the meantime, I hope this means that west Bella Vista will still stay quiet for awhile.  (Julles, I read the article about how many trucks are using the roads near your house for the east side of this project right now.)

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Friends, I posted this on the AA Roads forum about the BV bypass, and figured I'll just copy it here (not trying to be lazy and/or rude, just in a hurry today).  I think this bears watching given the Sen. Hendren and (possibly Gov.) Hutchinson are both from the Gravette area where 2/3 of the Arkansas-side Bella Vista bypass will run:

 

This mightn't mean much, but...it's looking ever more like Asa Hutchinson will be the next governor of Arkansas.  And just a week or so ago, Sen. Jim Hendren (Republican, and like Hutchinson from the Gravette area) was elected as Arkansas senate majority leader by acclamation.  Today, an editorial in the local paper ran saying it looks like Hutchinson is going to be a guy Republicans can really rally around.  (The new Republican State Senate whip will be from Texarkana, another I-49 city.)
 
If elected, Hutchinson would be the first governor from what is now "Northwest Arkansas" (metro) since Orval Faubus left office in 1967.  John Boozman of northwest Arkansas is one of the Natural State's senators, and Steve Womack (R-Rogers) is said to be rising in stature among the (old guard, I fear, not necessarily conservative) Washington congressional Republicans.
 
Makes me wonder if such a combination of NWA-bred elected officials might help the BV Bypass in any way.  They sure can't overturn last week's Missouri election results.  But I'd think with as much potential money as a completed I-49 can bring to NWA there might be some stronger interest in seeing this highway get finished than there has been.
 
Time will tell.

 

 

 

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Setback...Missouri voted down Amendment 7 yesterday, which would have been a massive highway tax (biggest in state history) for infrastructure improvements.  Their section of the Bella Vista Bypass was at the top of the list for funding that, and when they move to build, they MOVE.  I don't know now when this will happen on their side...maybe in the next 10 years.

 

In the meantime, I hope this means that west Bella Vista will still stay quiet for awhile.  (Julles, I read the article about how many trucks are using the roads near your house for the east side of this project right now.)

Arkansas will most likely get our side done anyway. We have the money allocated to do it so we will be ready when Missouri decides to do their side.

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Friends, I posted this on the AA Roads forum about the BV bypass, and figured I'll just copy it here (not trying to be lazy and/or rude, just in a hurry today).  I think this bears watching given the Sen. Hendren and (possibly Gov.) Hutchinson are both from the Gravette area where 2/3 of the Arkansas-side Bella Vista bypass will run:

 

 

 

Doesn't Hendren have a car dealership on the current Bella Vista to MO road?  I don't know why he'd want anybody to "bypass" that. 

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Doesn't Hendren have a car dealership on the current Bella Vista to MO road?  I don't know why he'd want anybody to "bypass" that. 

 

He lost it or sold it when President Obama nationalized (temporarily) GM and Chrysler.  The dealership in Gravette is long closed.  His old dealership at the state line (Jane/Bella Vista) is owned by Smith out of Fort Smith today.

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  • 3 weeks later...

City Wire article on the 8th Street Expansion (including the I-49 access).  Still wonder how they'll pull this off, but its interesting that WM is financing much of it.

 

I don't know if this has been posted before, but the city of bentonville website has several drawings of the proposed interchange of 8th/I-49 as well as the 8th street widening to I st.  One of the interchange drawings can be found here:

 

http://www.bentonvillear.com/assets/transportation_files/lh_drawing_9b_Interchange.pdf

 

sorry if already posted.

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The first big layer of blacktop is in between Rocky Dell Hollow Road in far west Bella Vista (where they've building the new bridge) and the west Hwy 72 new bridge in Gravette where the very first completed (2-lane) section of the BV bypass ends.  They just might make that October opening of this segment if they keep working.

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