Interstate 49 in Arkansas

Interstate 49 enters the state from Louisiana between Ida and Doddridge. The first interchange in Arkansas is with U.S. Route 71 at exit 4. The interstate passes near the town of Fouke, where it has another interchange with US 71. The interstate enters Texarkana and has an interchange with Highway 151 and runs along the eastern portion of the Texarkana Loop. Between U.S. Route 82 and U.S. Route 67, I-49 passes near the Texarkana Regional Airport. The interstate has an interchange with Interstate 30 before leaving Texarkana. I-49 turns to the west near the Sanderson Lane exit. The interstate crosses the state line into Texas before terminating at US 59/US 71. In the Texarkana area, I-49 is known as the Hickerson Freeway, named after Prissy Hickerson.[1]

The interstate begins again at exit 12 along I-40, one mile (1.6 km) west of Alma, Arkansas, continuing for over 65 miles (105 km) through the Crawford, Washington, and Benton counties. Just north of the Crawford-Washington county line is the Bobby Hopper Tunnel which is the only large highway tunnel in Arkansas. Notable cities along the route are Fayetteville, Springdale, Rogers, and Bentonville. From I-40 north to Fayetteville, I-49 runs roughly parallel to Highway 71. Just south of Fayetteville, I-49 combines with Highways 71 and 62, forming the major expressway through the northwest Arkansas metro area. I-49 ends where the expressway also ends, just north of Bentonville, where it becomes US 71 and the main street of Bella Vista, Bella Vista Way. Interstate 49 through the Ozark Mountains crosses several large gorge bridges.

I-49 in Northwest Arkansas

The first portion of I-49 was completed in the late 1990s and was opened to Mountainburg, Arkansas as AR 540. On January 8, 1999, the road was fully opened to traffic and was re-designated Interstate 540 and also was designated as "John Paul Hammerschmidt Highway" in honor of a former U.S. Representative from Arkansas.[2] Having been planned since the early 1970s, it created a bypass for the older US Highway 71.

The state of Arkansas originally asked AASHTO to allow the interstate segment between Fort Smith and Bentonville to be named I-49, to emphasize plans to extend the route from Shreveport, Louisiana through Arkansas to Kansas City, Missouri.[3] AASHTO refused, and the route opened in 1999 as a northern extension of I-540.[3] AHTD conducted a feasibility study of adding an interchange at Highway 162 in Van Buren in 1991, with the results adopted by the Arkansas State Highway Commission in 1992.[3] The Arkansas State Highway Commission (ASHC) studied a designation for I-540 between Mountainburg and Fayetteville as an Arkansas Scenic Byway in a meeting on November 17, 1998. One of the requirements of designation is "an active organization composed of various private and governmental groups, businesses, and agencies who are interested in preservation, enhancement, marketing, and development of the route's scenic, cultural, recreational, and historic qualities,". The ASHC deemed that since the highway was a new location route, it did not have sufficient businesses to satisfy the requirement, so the ASHC deemed itself a partner organization and proceeded with a designation study.[4] The route was added to the scenic byway system the following year.[5]

In June 2014, Interstate 540 was re-designated as Interstate 49 between I-40 in Alma and US-71B in Bentonville just south of the Missouri border. I-49 was completed from I-30 to US 71 was finished in May 2013. The route to the Louisiana border was completed and opened on November 10, 2014.[6]

Eventually, I-49 will cross the entire state. It will cross into Texas for about 5 to 10 miles (8.0 to 16.1 km) and then cross over a currently unbuilt bridge across the Red River into Arkansas. It will eventually reach De Queen, Arkansas in the near future. It will then run near the western border of the state from De Queen to Fort Smith. A bypass of Bella Vista will connect the longest stretch of I-49 to Highway 549 as well as to the completed road in Missouri.

This stretch has been broken down into several smaller sections: the southernmost section from the Louisiana state line to Doddridge (already completed and opened), Doddridge to the Texas state line (opened November 10, 2014), the US 71 relocation (planned project, one part (6.5 miles) opened in 2015 as Highway 549), an approximately 13.7-mile stretch near Fort Smith (now in the planning stages), part of Interstate 540 (previously completed in 1999 and later signed as Interstate 49 in June 2014) and the Arkansas portion of the Bella Vista bypass (currently under construction and is 89% complete) all the way to the Missouri state line.

The Arkansas portion of the Bella Vista Bypass could be completed by late 2021 or early 2022 (due to funding issues on Missouri's end that were later resolved through a $25 million grant). The missing parts are: a single point urban interchange to replace the current roundabout located at AR-549/I-49/US-71, two paved lanes (for a total of four) running from County Road 34 to the roundabout at the above listed junction and 2.5 miles of new four-lane roadway (mainlanes and structures) running from Benton County Route 34 to the Arkansas/Missouri state line. Total costs (as of October 2019) were at $102.11 million, with a total investment of $278 million. The contracts were awarded on July 25, 2019, while groundbreaking on these projects happened on October 15, 2019. Emory Sapp & Sons of Columbia, Missouri won the bid. AR-549 comes in from the west, US-71 comes in from the north and south and I-49 comes in from the south-southeast.

• Boston Mountains Scenic Loop

• Media related to Interstate 49 in Arkansas at Wikimedia Commons

Interstate 49
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