Arkansas state officials broke ground last month on a new bridge across the Arkansas River, part of the first of four phases of a future 14-mile stretch of Interstate 49.
The new I-49 Bridge will cross the Arkansas River north of Barling, Arkansas, and eventually connect to 14 total miles of a four-lane interstate running north to Alma, Arkansas, that makes up the full I-49 Extension project.
Once completed, the I-49 Bridge will include a river relief structure and ramps at the Gun Club Road interchange near Alma. Construction is estimated to be completed in 2029.
The bridge’s construction falls under the $282.5 million phase one contract awarded to Manhattan Road & Bridge Company based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in October 2024 for a 3.1-mile stretch of I-49 between Highway 22 in Barling and Gun Club Road.
Money for phase one of the I-49 Extension comes from federal-aid highway funding, federal grant funding, community project funding, and state funds.
The Arkansas Department of Transportation estimates the cost of the complete 14-mile I-49 Extension at $1.3 billion. The remaining three phases, which progress north from the Arkansas River toward Alma, will be split into the following projects:
- 5.4 miles from Gun Club Road to Clear Creek Road
- 4.2 miles from Clear Creek Road to Interstate 40
- 1.7 for a I-40/I-49 Interchange
The 14-mile I-49 Extension project contributes to the state’s goal of completing the full I-49 corridor – roughly 162 miles vertically along Arkansas’ western border – from Fort Smith to Texarkana, filling a gap in America’s mid-south I-49 transcontinental corridor.
“When finished, I-49 will offer a safer and more efficient north-south highway in western Arkansas,” said Arkansas Highway Commission Vice Chairman Keith Gibson. “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.”
This fall, ARDOT workers will begin field survey work to progress another I-49 extension, which will south run from Barling through Waldron, Arkansas, and connect to U.S. Highway 71. No construction timeline for this next part of the I-49 Extension has been set.
