ARDOT awards Tulsa contractor Manhattan Road & Bridge a $282.5 million project to extend I-49 near Fort Smith, Arkansas. The project involves constructing a 3.1-mile stretch, closing a major gap in the nation's transcontinental corridor and enhancing international trade and regional mobility. Full completion is estimated to cost $1.3 billion.
The first of four projects near Fort Smith, Ark., to construct the next portion of Interstate 49, between Arkansas Highway 22 in Barling and the I-40/I-49 Extension, has been awarded to a Tulsa, Okla., contractor.
The Arkansas Department of Transportation (ARDOT) selected Manhattan Road & Bridge to build the $282.5 million project. It will begin with the Phase 1 construction of a 3.1-mi. stretch of I-49 between Arkansas 22 in Sebastian County and Gun Club Road in Crawford County.
"[Interstate 49] is a critical corridor of our nation's transportation system," said Arkansas Republican U.S. Sen. John Boozman. "I have long championed investments for this project because it supports economic activity and growth in Arkansas and will help move people and goods more efficiently across the region and country. Working with ARDOT and our congressional delegation to secure this funding was a priority, and we are all pleased to see the project coming to fruition."
Work on the I-49 extension will help close the 162-mi. gap in the nation's Mid-South transcontinental corridor, which will ultimately link the Gulf Coast with the central United States and Canada. The north-south freeway also will connect to six of the nation's existing east-west National Highway Freight Network routes, according to ARDOT, meaning that its completion will enhance international and domestic commerce and improve mobility in the region.
"This project, particularly the I-49 Arkansas River bridge, is a significant milestone toward our goal of completing the I-49 corridor from Fort Smith to Texarkana," said Arkansas Highway Commissioner Keith Gibson. "When finished, I-49 will offer a safer and more efficient north-south highway in western Arkansas.
"The convergence of two major interstate highways, I-49 and I-40, in the River Valley will form a crossroads from the Canadian border to the Gulf Coast, and from the East Coast to the West Coast with the River Valley as the centerpiece," he continued. "When combined with the area's major railway systems and waterway transportation opportunities, I-49 will generate significant economic benefits and development not only to the region but to the entire state of Arkansas."
The state agency noted that the entire project is estimated to cost approximately $1.3 billion from design to construction. A new bridge across the Arkansas River, a major component of the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System, will be part of the 14-mi.-long segment of I-49 from Ark. 22 to I-40 between Barling and Alma, just east of Fort Smith.
"Fort Smith is the third largest city in Arkansas and continues to be a hub for exciting growth and opportunity," noted U.S. Representative Steve Womack, 3rd District. "The new bridge that will span the Arkansas River is necessary to relieve congestion from increased traffic and facilitate economic development throughout the region. It's a critical piece of the I-49 Extension, and I am excited that the Arkansas Department of Transportation is taking this important step forward in turning this project into reality."
In addition, interchanges will be constructed at Ark. 22, Clear Creek Road, I-40, and Gun Club Road — the latter of which will be improved to highway standards between future I-49 and Ark. 59.
ARDOT's Plans Are Good News to Region's Business Leaders
When it comes to I-49, any step forward on the project is good news for Curt Green.
He owns a commercial real estate firm in Texarkana and is president of the I-49 International Coalition, which is based in Shreveport, La. It is his dream to see the completion of I-49 between Texarkana and Fort Smith along the western border of Arkansas, hopefully in his lifetime.
"Well, I'm 73, so probably not for me," he joked while speaking to Arkansas Business, based in Little Rock.
State officials and business leaders have said for years that getting the Arkansas River Bridge built is the linchpin of the I-49 expansion efforts in Fort Smith.
"In a lot of ways, it is like the key to the door," Green said. "You open up the door and start us on the downhill side."
He added that every dollar of the project's $1.3 billion cost is appreciated, adding that whenever money "is provided to finish out another mile or two or three or 10 or 12, it takes it on down the road. Just like when we got from Texarkana to Shreveport. Every mile helps, and there's no telling when there will be funding for the whole thing."
Arkansas improved its infrastructure funding in recent years with the passage of a permanent half-cent sales tax and other legislation that will generate approximately $300 million annually for highways. Federal money from President Biden's 2021 signing of the $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment & Jobs Act also gave the state $3.6 billion for roads and $278 million for bridges over five years.
Still, more funding means more competition for that money, and Green said it was a credit to Arkansas' congressional delegation that the I-49 expansion received its share.
"We really appreciate our congressional guys working for us up in Washington and getting us the money," he told Arkansas Business. "You have to understand there are like 5,000 highways that want money."
Towns such as Mena, on the western edge of Arkansas, will see enormous benefits, he noted, when I-49 is finished from Fort Smith to Texarkana, and having another interstate fully operating in the region also will alleviate some of the truck traffic that often plagues I-30 and I-40 in Arkansas.
Anything invested in completing I-49 will be worth it, Green said. With business interests in northwest Arkansas, he also believes the completion of the I-49 Bella Vista Bypass has been a boon to southern Missouri.
"If you want to see growth in southern Missouri, get on I-49 in Bella Vista and drive to Joplin to see what has grown along the interstate. [There], you can see what an interstate can do for you on the economy," Green explained. "One of these days when we have I-49 running from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada nonstop, the whole western side of Arkansas is going to look like I-40 going east to west across [the state]."
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