Bella Vista Bypass added to I-49

Highway Commission OKs order, makes designation for route official

BELLA VISTA — The Bella Vista Bypass is now formally a part of Interstate 49.

An order approved Wednesday by the Arkansas Highway Commission redesignated Arkansas 549 from U. S. 71 to Benton County Road 34 as part of I-49.

The order also added the newly constructed portion of the bypass between Benton County Road 34 and the Missouri border to the state highway system as I-49.

The formality came a little more than a month after the 19-mile, four-lane bypass opened to the public.

It also came after the Arkansas Department of Transportation won approval from the Federal Highway Administration to make the changes.

“The I- 49 signs are in place on the Bella Vista Bypass,” said Dave Parker, spokesman for the Arkansas Department of Transportation. “We uncovered them after FHWA reviewed and approved the route for interstate status.”

The commission approval paves the way for changes to be made to state maps and other places the state agency refers to the route.

Commission member Philip Taldo of Springdale acknowledged that Wednesday’s order was a formality but a meaningful one.

“It is important to have that name on it,” Taldo said.

“A lot of companies looking at moving into the area are interested in what are your interstate services in and out of the area, and to have that designation on there just adds another page to our file whenever they go throughout,” he said.

The name change reverberates well beyond the Arkansas border, Taldo added.

The completion of the project, also known as the Interstate 49/Missouri/Arkansas Connector, links 265 miles of interstate between Fort Smith and Kansas City, Mo.

“It’s an important piece nationwide right down the center of the country,” he said. “We want to be able to celebrate that all we can.”

The bypass allows motorists to circumvent Bella Vista to the west and south on a four-lane, controlled-access highway. The city has a population of roughly 28,500.

Construction consisted of six projects totaling more than $220 million and began in February 2011.

The two projects were the last 2½ miles from Hiwasse in Benton County to the Missouri line and the single-point urban interchange to replace the roundabout at I-49 and U.S. 71 in north Bentonville, where the new highway heads west.

The estimated cost of the two projects is just more than $ 100 million. Emery Sapp & Sons is the primary contractor on both.