New Moniker Gives Hope For Interstate

What's in a name? Perhaps millions of dollars.

At least that's the hope of supporters who want an interstate highway through the middle of the country connecting Canada to the Gulf Coast.

What’s The Point?

The long and winding road toward completion of Interstate 49 took a major step recently as more than 60 miles of Interstate 540 in Northwest Arkansas took on that new, long-term identity.

Interstate 49 is envisioned as a major transportation route through middle America, but those dreams are stymied by a lack of several interstate-quality connections between Kansas City and Louisiana. That, of course, in large part describes territory known as western Arkansas.

By connecting to Interstate 29 north of Kansas City, the highway will one day carry huge volumes of traffic north and south, from the ports of Louisiana to industrial Winnepeg, Canada.

The Interstate 49 International Coalition says the biggest barrier to the route's completion continues to be construction funding in western Arkansas for:

-- Additional two lanes for the Bella Vista bypass.

-- A bridge over the Arkansas River between Van Buren and Barling.

-- The 150-mile segment between Fort Smith and Texarkana.

It has been 15 years since Arkansas highway officials opened Interstate 540 between Interstate 40 near Alma connecting to the existing "bypass" at Fayetteville. That created an interstate-quality route into Northwest Arkansas previously accessible from the south only by curving, overburdened two-lane highways through the Boston Mountains. At the time, the region's residents and the thousands who traveled regularly to Razorback games from other parts of Arkansas recognized the value of the $10 million-per-mile road to the state. But it didn't take long for people to also recognize an important national link had been made in the drive to connect north to south.

Last week, news came from the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department that federal authorities had approved the renaming of Interstate 540 from Alma to Bella Vista as Interstate 49. The renaming is a bit perplexing, since the highway is but a segment of what Interstate 49 will eventually be. But the decision, nonetheless, was cause for celebration among the I-49 advocates.

"We are pleased to have this new designation," Scott Bennett, director of the Highway Department said in a news release. "This is something we have been working on for several months. In addition, we are awaiting Federal Highway Administration approval to designate future sections of Interstate 49 between Interstate 40 and the Louisiana state line."

Signs are already going up, at a cost of about $70,000.

Jeff Hawkins, executive director of the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission, predicted the new designation could be important in the campaign to fund the remaining gaps in creating a true I-49 corridor.

So, what's in a name? We're convinced the designation of the road as Interstate 49 will help cement the identity of this important route of transportation, and make it more likely federal officials will work to find the funding needed to speed progress on it. But changing the name can only go so far. Indeed, some might suggest the name-changing is simply designed to create the illusion of progress on a route already decades in the making.

Whatever it is, we're glad people are paying attention to Interstate 49 and making progress in western Arkansas.

At least now, the people of Northwest Arkansas can get used to calling it Interstate 49 without worrying about what it's going to be called next.

Commentary on 04/24/2014

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