Arkansas

Trillion Dollar Highway Plans
= Multiple Bypass Surgery
a state by state list
High Priority Corridors
specified by Congress in 1991, 1995, 1998, 2005, 2012
NAFTA Superhighways
Corridors of the Future
J. Edgar Hoover Parkway: transportation surveillance,
mileage taxes, RFID & video tolling
Paving Appalachia:
Corridor A to X in AL, GA, MD, MS, NC, NY, OH, PA, SC, TN, VA, WV
Alabama Nebraska
Alaska Nevada
Arizona New Hampshire
Arkansas New Jersey
California New Mexico
Colorado New York
Connecticut North Carolina
Delaware North Dakota
Florida Ohio
Georgia Oklahoma
Hawai'i Oregon
Idaho Pennsylvania
Illinois Rhode Island
Indiana South Carolina
Iowa South Dakota
Kansas Tennessee
Kentucky Texas
Louisiana Utah
Maine Vermont
Maryland Virginia
Massachusetts Washington
Michigan Washington, D.C.
Minnesota West Virginia
Mississippi Wisconsin
Missouri Wyoming
Montana  

High Priority Corridor 1: North South Corridor

I-49, I-130, I-540, US 71

from: Smart Choices, Less Traffic: The 50 Best and Worst Transportation Projects In the United States
Sierra Club Beyond Oil Campaign, November 2012
http://content.sierraclub.org/beyondoil/content/smart-choices-less-traffic

Construction on Interstate 49 began in the 1980s when gas cost $1.25/gal. It was imagined as a throughway from Winnipeg, MB to New Orleans, LA. Currently, the only completed section of the highway is in Louisiana, with the Missouri section of the highway set to open in December 2012. Plans to continue the route through Arkansas began in the mid-2000s, and construction is ongoing or in the planning process. The project is composed of western and eastern beltways through northwest Arkansas cutting through rural and semi-rural, environmentally sensitive areas with little or no public transit service. In the summer of 2012, 1.4 miles of I-540 will be widened from 4 to 6-lanes costing $5.8 million. The full project, including six additional sections, will cost $125 million.

Peak Traffic's note: A section of this highway (I-540) was built in the 1990s by the Clinton administration. It passes next to the galactic headquarters of Wal-Mart. Parts of this highway have also been completed in Missouri -- it has been built in small sections as funding has been available over the past two decades.

 

High Priority Corridor 8: Highway 412 East-West Corridor

Highway 412 East-West Corridor from Tulsa, Oklahoma, through Arkansas along United States Route 62/63/65 to Nashville, Tennessee.

 

High Priority Corridor 18: NAFTA Superhighway
I-69, I-94, I-530, Routes 59, 77, 281, 82, 61, 51, Purchase Parkway, I-164, Indiana 37

Corridor from Sarnia, Ontario, Canada, through Port Huron, Michigan, southwesterly along Interstate Route 69 through Indianapolis, Indiana, through Evansville, Indiana, Memphis, Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, Shreveport / Bossier Louisiana, to Houston, Texas, and to the Lower Rio Grande Valley at the border between the United States and Mexico, as follows: [I-69]

  1. In Michigan, the corridor shall be from Sarnia, Ontario, Canada, southwesterly along Interstate Route 94 to the Ambassador Bridge interchange in Detroit, Michigan.
  2. In Michigan and Illinois, the corridor shall be from Windsor, Ontario, Canada, through Detroit, Michigan, westerly along Interstate Route 94 to Chicago, Illinois.
  3. In Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Louisiana, the Corridor shall--
    1. follow the alignment generally identified in the Corridor 18 Special Issues Study Final Report; and
    2. include a connection between the Corridor east of Wilmar, Arkansas, and west of Monticello, Arkansas, to Pine Bluff, Arkansas
  4. In the Lower Rio Grande Valley, the Corridor shall-
    1. include United States Route 77 from the Rio Grande River to Interstate Route 37 at Corpus Christi, Texas, and then to Victoria, Texas, via United States Route 77; [I-69 East]
    2. include United States Route 281 from the Rio Grande River to Interstate Route 37 and then to Victoria, Texas, via United States Route 59; [I-69 Central] and
    3. include the Corpus Christi North-side Highway and Rail Corridor from the existing intersection of United States Route 77 and Interstate Route 37 to United States Route 181, including FM511 from United States Route 77 to the Port of Brownsville.
  5. In Kentucky, the corridor shall utilize the existing Purchase Parkway from the Tennessee State line to Interstate 24.

 

proposed I-69 crossing of Mississippi river near McGehee, Arkansas

www.garverusa.com/portfolio/transportation/greatriver.php
Great River Bridge
Design Services
Client: Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department
Location: Desha County, Arkansas and Bolivar County, Mississippi
Project Cost: $360 million

Garver served as a subconsultant to HNTB to design the approach spans of the Great River Bridge, a new cable-stayed Mississippi River crossing near Arkansas City, Arkansas. The new structure, designed but not constructed, is approximately 22,000 feet in length and will serve as the future I-69 Mississippi River crossing.

 

http://i-69.dina.org/default.html

I-69 from El Dorado to McGehee, Arkansas

 

High Priority Corridor 39: United States Route 63

Route 63 from Marked Tree to I-55
future I-555

 

High Priority Corridor 52: Parallel to Arkansas 226

The route in Arkansas running south of and parallel to Arkansas State Highway 226 from the relocation of United States Route 67 to the vicinity of United States Route 49 and United States Route 63.

 

High Priority Corridor 55: Interstate 20-635-30-40

In Texas, Interstate Route 20 from Interstate Route 35E in Dallas County, east to the intersection of Interstate Route 635, north to the intersection of Interstate Route 30, northeast through Texarkana to Little Rock, Arkansas, Inter-state Route 40 northeast from Little Rock east to the proposed Interstate Route 69 corridor.

High Priority Corridor 72 (same as Corridor 1)

 

I-540 built by Clinton administration, goes past Wal-Mart headquarters

 

I-69 planned through southeast part of state

 

I-440 Little Rock Beltway recently added on east side

 

I-540 Pine Bluff bypass is relatively new

Hot Springs recently built a large bypass and named it after Martin Luther King, Jr. This road has an interchange with Albert Pike Road, named after a Confederate soldier.

 

Route 67 freeway being extended through northeast

 

These new freeway expansions specified by the High Priority Corridors add up to a circumferential road around most of the state - the Arkansas Beltway.

www.aradvocates.org/highway-robbery-bill-still-hurts-services-for-kids/

Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families

Highway Robbery bill still hurts services for kids
Posted by Rich Huddleston, Executive Director on March 20th 2013

This Highway Robbery Bill - HB 1418 - is akin to robbing Peter to Pay Paul. It presents a false choice between funding highways or funding other critical services for children and families. This is a "choice" that we don't have to make. We certainly do not need to make this "choice" mere months after voters approved more than a billion dollars in new highway spending, financed by a sales tax that hits everyone in the state.

Take Action on This Bill Here.

The Highway Robbery Bill, combined with $100 to $150 million in tax cuts that could also pass this session, will devastate programs that impact children and families in Arkansas. The Department of Finance and Administration expects HB 1418 to take $1.7 BILLION away from services all Arkansans need over the next 10 years. Together Highway Robbery and the proposed tax cuts for corporations and wealthy Arkansans represent a "perfect storm" that would spell disaster for future funding of education, health care, public safety, and services for vulnerable children and families. This fundamentally changes the funding base for the state budget, and it's all done in the guise of "economic development" while willfully ignoring the number one factor that determines state economic development or business location decisions: a well-trained and educated workforce.