As southeast Arkansas citizens and college students often travel to Memphis either for a weekend vacation, concert or ballgame, the expansion of two roadways along the pathway is viewed as welcome news.
Not only are plans to replace the Interstate 55 bridge — aka America’s River Crossing Bridge — from West Memphis to Memphis on the horizon, but U.S. 79 from Wabbaseka to Stuttgart is nearing completion of a $17,496,156 expansion to four lanes — two northbound and two southbound. U.S. 79 gives drivers from Jefferson County a diagonal path toward Memphis, up to the U.S. 70 and Interstate 40 junctions in the community of Jennette.
The expansion in southeast Arkansas is one of nine ongoing major projects totaling $83 million that are impacting Jefferson County, following $215 million worth of projects in the county covering 228 miles of roads already completed in the past 10 years, according to the Arkansas Department of Transportation, or ArDOT.
The U.S. Department of Transportation is funding $400 million for work on the new I-55 bridge, on top of $250 million each pledged by Arkansas and Tennessee. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which provides $350 billion for federal highway programs between 2022-26, is the major source of funding for both the I-55 bridge and U.S. 79 expansions.
U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tennessee, said Thursday at a news conference in Memphis the law signed by President Joe Biden is the most important for Tennessee and Arkansas ever passed, adding the new I-55 bridge “renews the heart of the country.”
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
The passing lane project along 5.24 miles of U.S. 79 between Wabbaseka and Stuttgart began in April 2021. That expansion will likely be completed at the end of the year.
“It’s not necessarily a preservation project. We’re going to improve the resilience of the roads and improve mobility,” said Jared D. Wiley, chief engineer for pre-construction with ArDOT.
Other projects for the highway in and around Pine Bluff are scheduled for future dates, including 2.36 miles of widening U.S. 79 South in Pine Bluff starting in May 2025, 16.57 miles of resurfacing north of Arkansas 35 (9.21 miles in Jefferson County), and 2.52 miles of resurfacing U.S. 79B toward Altheimer in 2026.
Allison Thompson, president and CEO of the Economic Development Alliance for Jefferson County, said improved east-west access on the interstates is beneficial to all of Arkansas including the southeast region. Much of the rice P.J. Haynie, co-owner of Arkansas River Rice, grows is in northeast Jefferson County, and he ships it to points east of the city along U.S. 79.
“The improvements will be very welcome,” Haynie said Friday. “Any congestion farmers have to face in shipping grains is a challenge.”
The goals for America’s River Crossing Bridge are to improve safety by addressing geometric deficiencies and making the bridge more earthquake resistant, maintain a state of good repair by reducing ongoing maintenance costs, and bolster route resiliency, according to a video from the Tennessee DOT. Arkansas’ part in that project, Wiley said, is to work with Tennessee as an equal partner while Tennessee leads the effort in the design of the bridge.
“This bridge is one of a few crossings of the Mississippi River from Arkansas to our neighbors to the east,” he said. “It’s big. Forty percent of the traffic that uses this bridge every day is truck traffic, and they bring goods all over the country, and a lot of those goods stop in Arkansas.”
The more iconic bridge from West Memphis to Memphis is the Hernando de Soto bridge along Interstate 40, which opened in 1973. Yet it was a fracture to the one of the supporting beams of I-40 that led to its temporary closure for repair in 2021, and state officials from Arkansas and Tennessee on Thursday referred to the discovery of that fracture as an impetus to pursue federal funds for a new I-55 bridge.
The present I-55 bridge, opened in December 1949, is four lanes with narrow shoulders on both sides covering 64 feet, 9 inches. With the new I-55 bridge, a 12-foot auxiliary lane and 12-foot shoulder will be installed on each side, widening the structure to more than 130 feet.
“This highway connects the country from the Gulf Coast to the Great Lakes,” Arkansas Highway Commission Chairman Alec Farmer said Thursday. “… Projects of this magnitude don’t just happen. They take cooperation.”
Voters approved a half-cent sales tax to improve Arkansas highways in 2020, and the state’s road engineers are working to give them that return.
“We told them if they did that, we would dedicate three-fourths of our funding to infrastructure, and that’s exactly what we’re doing,” Wiley said.
A stretch of U.S. 79 northbound near Humphrey, which borders Jefferson and Arkansas counties, is pictured Thursday, July 18, 2024. (Pine Bluff Commercial/I.C. Murrell)