GRAVETTE -- Interstate 49 signs will go up as soon as this week on sections of Interstate 540 and U.S. 71, state highway officials said April 16.
The Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department recently received approval from the Federal Highway Administration and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials to rename the section from Interstate 40, near Alma, to the U.S. 71B interchange just south of Bella Vista.
Beginning this week, the route will be designated Interstate 49.
Highway crews are expected to replace the old road signs beginning Tuesday. Interstate 49 signs should be installed along the 65-mile route within 30 days, officials said. The Highway Department will be placing nearly 700 signs at a cost of about $70,000.
Jeff Hawkins, executive director of the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission, said the new designation could pressure officials to more quickly address the remaining gap in the highway between south Fort Smith and Kansas City.
"I think it's a plus to get the signs. It's good for travel, it's good for commerce," Hawkins said. "It may well put a little more pressure on to fill that gap. You've got that one gap and it's called the Bella Vista Bypass."
Bella Vista Bypass
The Bella Vista Bypass, which is under construction, will have a dual designation as "Arkansas 549 and Future I-49" until it's completed to interstate standards. A two-lane section of the bypass around Hiwasse is opening to traffic this week.
When complete, I-49 will run from New Orleans to the Canadian border. There's a large section missing between Fort Smith and Texarkana, and the highway department doesn't have the money to build it for the foreseeable future. The section from Kansas City south to Pineville was renamed I-49 in December of 2012.
I-540 started out in the 1970s as a spur around Fort Smith from I-40 to the Oklahoma state line. The newer, northern portion of I-540 was completed in the late 1990s and was first opened to Mountainburg as Arkansas 540. On Jan. 8, 1999, the road was fully opened to traffic and re-designated I-540 and the "John Paul Hammerschmidt Highway" in honor of the former longtime U.S. representative. Having been planned since the early 1970s, it created a bypass for the older U.S. 71 through the Boston Mountains.
Portions of the road that became I-540 around Fayetteville were built in the early 1970s and upgraded and extended in the mid-1990s. The highway around Fayetteville originally received U.S. 71 signs until the complete I-540 spur was opened.
General News on 04/23/2014