I-49 One Step Closer to Being Realized

[KJW]

Here are pictures I snapped this afternoon on the second (new Hwy 72 bridge in Gravette to Rocky Dell Hollow bridge west of Bella Vista Highlands) section of the Bella Vista Bypass, future I-49.  Maybe you all knew about this, but what I saw was a surprise to me (and again, if (with a now 9 point lead over former Rep. Mike Ross) as expected Gravette's Asa Hutchinson wins the governorship and is teamed with Gravette's Sen. Majority Leader Hendren, I think these guys will work very hard to make as much of I-49 a reality for Arkansas as they can...just a gut feeling):

 

 

 

 

[Julles]

Thanks for the pics, KJW. They have been working like crazy behind our house. We started hearing them on weekends (even Sundays)...then couldn't believe it when on Labor Day we could hardly hear our music in the back yard over the machines. I'm ready for them to move on down the road. I can't imagine that even truck traffic will approach this level of noise. We can't see them at all, but from 800 feet away we can clearly hear them working from inside the house with all doors and windows shut.

[KJW]

Julles, understood.  They're SWARMING around what used to be Hiwasse as well as the west Highway 72 bridge where I took a few of those pics.  And did you notice that instead of building just a two-lane highway, there are parts of the West 72 Bridge-to-Rocky Dell Hollow Bridge (under construction in the background of the top picture) that are FOUR-LANE?!?!

 

Glad that's happening.

[zman9810]

That's great they are building some of the new route as a four lane. It may be a little too late to do so but taking the time to build it all four lane as it progresses would be so much more efficient than coming back later and adding 2 lanes. Missouri will eventually build their section so the money spent building the full 4 lanes would not be wasted.

 

Since we are bringing politics into a development forum...the latest poll I saw has Ross up by two points and it is a Republican leaning poll. If Hutchinson wins he will be so busy doing the work of the outside interests that financed his campaign and that he will be a lobbyist for some day they he will forget about his Arkansas roots. That's not to say Ross hasn't had outside financing but Ross hasn't been a lobbyist as Hutchinson has.

[KJW]

Nothing really new in terms of the highway, but in this glowing article on NWA growth today I-49 is called "the spine" of the development.

 

(If you don't think a completed I-49 will be significant for NWA and Fort Smith...)

[strmchsr77]

A public meeting will be held this afternoon at Asbell Elementary from 4-7 PM to discuss the proposed improvements to I-49.  This will be for the intersection of Porter Road to Hwy 112 and 71B interchanges.  Just an FYI if anyone is interested.  I will probably drop by to see what they are planning since I drive that area daily.

[strmchsr77]

http://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/index.php/gallery/image/3395-img-5473/

 

 

Trying to figure out how to put a picture on here but for some reason it is not working...

 

Anyway, the link is to a picture of the changes that are going to be made to the I-49/Hwy 112/Fulbright Expressway interchange.  They are adding quite a few lanes that will eliminate much of the merging that you have to do currently.  The interstate will also be expanded to 6 lanes as we all knew.  I did ask the engineers if they knew anything about a new interchange just north of here where the new Van Ashe extension will be and they said they had not heard anything.  They also mentioned that it would be hard to do with the changes they are making on this current project.

[KJW]

Apparently, November 10th is when the Arkansas/Louisiana state line segments of I-49 down there will be opened, so it will be I-49 all the way from Texarkana pretty much to Lafayette, LA (and Baton Rouge/N.O.) at that point.  One final inner-city Shreveport segment of I-49 is under construction now.

 

Also, That slow helicopter (or whatever ) aerial tour of I-49 you may have recently witness was Rep. Steve Womack taking the chairman of the House Transportation committee over NWA and Fort Smith to see the opportunities (in all senses of the word) present.  I-49 may be on the radar of the funders even moreso, now.  We'll see.

[zman9810]

http://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/index.php/gallery/image/3395-img-5473/

 

 

Trying to figure out how to put a picture on here but for some reason it is not working...

 

Anyway, the link is to a picture of the changes that are going to be made to the I-49/Hwy 112/Fulbright Expressway interchange.  They are adding quite a few lanes that will eliminate much of the merging that you have to do currently.  The interstate will also be expanded to 6 lanes as we all knew.  I did ask the engineers if they knew anything about a new interchange just north of here where the new Van Ashe extension will be and they said they had not heard anything.  They also mentioned that it would be hard to do with the changes they are making on this current project.

Thanks for this post- I had been looking for a good overview of this project. It s a good thing that there is a lot of vacant land just south of the interchange- looks like this is going to extend very far south of the present ramps. This should help traffic flow tremendously. Sure wish that it would be put on a fast track but I know everyone else wishes their home projects would also be.

 

Yeah, don't think Van Asche will ever have an interchange- it will have to be an extension of Joyce over the hill to I49 if it ever happens. It would benefit Fayetteville so much that the City needs to partner with the AHDT to make it happen even though it won't be in the city itself.

[TRB]

Thanks for this post- I had been looking for a good overview of this project. It s a good thing that there is a lot of vacant land just south of the interchange- looks like this is going to extend very far south of the present ramps. This should help traffic flow tremendously. Sure wish that it would be put on a fast track but I know everyone else wishes their home projects would also be.

 

Yeah, don't think Van Asche will ever have an interchange- it will have to be an extension of Joyce over the hill to I49 if it ever happens. It would benefit Fayetteville so much that the City needs to partner with the AHDT to make it happen even though the it won't be in the city itself.

Johnson has shot down extending Joyce, well a few land owners in Johnson have.

[KJW]

Forgive me, as I'm not sure how to resize this picture, but...a milestone was reached on the Bella Vista Bypass/future I-49 this week, quietly.  The last highway overpass (that's not connected with the future south interchange of the "B.V.P.", more on that in a minute) on the Arkansas side of the Bella Vista Bypass is now open, albeit though not yet connected to the bypass.

 

This is on Rocky Dell Hollow Road.  Concrete is being spread on the first two lanes of the BVP south of this which will connect to the existing north terminus of the Bella Vista Bypass (at the new Hwy. 72 bridge west of Hiwasse).  There's a new road, or rather, newly paved section of what may have been a dirt road, that runs for about a mile north and south from where the new Rocky Dell Hollow Road ends 1/4 mile west of the new bridge.  Above ground utility lines have also been placed so obviously there is some growth anticipated there.

 

Also, today in the City Wire is an article about the planned (temporary, mercifully) roundabout at the BVP south interchange with I-49:

 

http://www.thecitywire.com/node/35238#.VErwm_nF_UQ

[KJW]

Well, it happened.  The governor of the state, like the new state senate majority leader, is from Gravette, through whose school district 3/4 of the Arkansas-side Bella Vista bypass/I-49 will run.

 

I have no idea, but I can't think this will be negative for the future of I-49/Arkansas.

[KJW]

It's official: at 1:00 pm Monday, November 10th, the Texarkana-to-Shreveport section of I-49 (minus a couple of miles in inner-city Shreveport now under construction) will be open for business.

 

The "good vise" slowly closes in on Arkansas (and the small section of McDonald County, MO awaiting its side of the Bella Vista Bypass).

[KJW]

A couple hundred miles away, but the vise tightens:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUQ3_DIe2pM

 

and;

 

http://txktoday.com/news/49-ribbon-cutting-ceremony-opens-49-shreveport/

[KJW]

FWIW, AHTD map of Interstate 69 corridor progress.  NWA will likely be more affected by the Texas part of this route, though FSM could be affected by the part from Memphis northeastward:

[burnz34]

Nice to finally see the extension of the interstate, from the exit by sams club (in Rogers) to the village on the creeks exit.

[Snaple4]

It will help a lot in that are. Although, I actually think an improvement in the on/off ramps and feeder roads would be a much better short term solution to the traffic problems up here. It is so bad that I am starting to avoid the 102 interchange due to how long it takes to go through it. Even off hours can take 20 minutes from Sams club to Moberly Dr.

[KJW]

A slide in a recent (12/17/14) AHTD presentation (image excerpted below) says that construction on the final Arkansas-side segment of the Bella Vista Bypass (from County Road 34/Rocky Dell Hollow Road (where the new bridge is in use right now for the road, not the Bypass) will take place between 2017-2019, as well as the genuine interchange (not the roundabout) for the south Bella Vista Bypass link with existing I-49 in north Bentonville

 

This makes sense.  Even though the Missouri State highway proposed tax was rejected in August, the State of Missouri had 2018 as their date to start building their final (Pineville, MO to the state line) segment of the Bella Vista Bypass and I-49.  The last pre-rechristened-as-I-49 segment they built from Anderson, MO - Pineville, MO saw a veritable army of earthmoving vehicles be mobilized in a short period of time for the intense construction project.

 

What it means is that they're projecting the Bella Vista Bypass to be complete around 2019, in five years.  Given that the AHTD is discussing a full interchange at this point that might mean that it will be four-laned by then.  I hope so.  They're curiously building four lane segments above Hiwasse, with two of the lanes to be in the initial 2-lane bypass and the other two lanes (being paved) going from 1 to several blocks at existing interchanges, then dead-ending.  Why?  Don't know yet, but the more lanes that get built during this time, the better.

 

And what this in turn appears to mean is that Northwest Arkansas will have a through interstate within five years.  Perhaps sooner if Rep. Steve Womack indeed has convinced the House Transportation Committee Chairman Bud Shuster for extra funds for this segment.  (Though if he diverts it instead to the I-49 Arkansas River bridge segment I won't complain that much.  )

[TRB]

Nice to finally see the extension of the interstate, from the exit by sams club (in Rogers) to the village on the creeks exit.

That Sam's is actually in Bentonville

[KJW]

That Sam's is actually in Bentonville

 

Don't want to drift off topic here but...Bentonville/Rogers has such a weird composite boundary, particularly in the school systems.  The Bennie school district includes a part seemingly deep into Rogers (a nice neighborhhood about four blocks north of Pig Trail Harley-Davidson, not far from the new Sunshine School, with half in the Bentonville district, half in Rogers (Heritage)).  The Rogers (including Heritage High School) school boundary goes to about three blocks straight east of Bentonville High School (those apartments on Moberly, The Links, I believe, with, again, part of them in Bentonville, part in the Rogers district).  Then you have the Pinnacle Subdivision, also 1/2 Rogers (east) and Bentonville (West).  A guard there told me that each school day he sees Rogers elementary and high school buses, then Bentonville elementary and high school buses (not necessarily in that order) passing through the gates he watches.

[Mith242]

Don't want to drift off topic here but...Bentonville/Rogers has such a weird composite boundary, particularly in the school systems.  The Bennie school district includes a part seemingly deep into Rogers (a nice neighborhhood about four blocks north of Pig Trail Harley-Davidson, not far from the new Sunshine School, with half in the Bentonville district, half in Rogers (Heritage)).  The Rogers (including Heritage High School) school boundary goes to about three blocks straight east of Bentonville High School (those apartments on Moberly, The Links, I believe, with, again, part of them in Bentonville, part in the Rogers district).  Then you have the Pinnacle Subdivision, also 1/2 Rogers (east) and Bentonville (West).  A guard there told me that each school day he sees Rogers elementary and high school buses, then Bentonville elementary and high school buses (not necessarily in that order) passing through the gates he watches.

Yeah school district boundaries can be very different from city boundaries.  One of the reasons why Fayetteville despite being the biggest NWA city has a much smaller school district compared to most of the other major NWA cities.

[KJW]

Julles, how's it (all the stuff they're doing) going in your neck of the woods?

[Julles]

It's pretty much full swing, KJW. I'm still astonished by the amount of noise we get from construction when they are working. The frames (? I don't know construction terms) for the overpass pillars at the Punkin Hollow overpass appear to be going up. Still lots of excavation being done and pipes being laid. Have you been out behind Lowe's to see the massive road build-up there past where they cut thru the mountain? Quite a sight, especially at night when they are working by their big work lights; that big rockpile looming is impressive. I am just hoping highway noise is nowhere near construction noise. With all doors and windows shut and TV on, it's still annoyingly loud. And we are at least 1000 feet away.

[KJW]

Map with timetable of various I-49 NWA projects, from a PowerPoint presentation of the AHTD on 2/3/15 to the Springdale Chamber of Commerce..

[KJW]

Interesting that one of ten"critical" highway projects for Missouri (one of only three south of the I-70 St. Louis-Kansas City corridor) is the Missouri-side Bella Vista bypass.  The map is from AASHTO (essentially the American industry association for the state highway/transportation departments) and is accessible from the "MO" link on the state links at the bottom of this page: https://invest.transportation.org/infographic/#state-impact