Arkansas Highway 2

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Highway 2 was a mostly east-west highway in southern Arkansas. Its western terminus was the Texas State Line, in Texarkana, Arkansas where it continued as State Highway 5. Its eastern terminus was the Mississippi State Line where it continued as Mississippi Highway 10.

Highway 2 was later replaced by U.S. Highway 82. U.S. 82 mostly continues along the same route as Highway 2, with the following major exceptions:

  • Garland was bypassed in the 1980s by a new bridge over the Red River; the western part of old Highway 2 (from modern U.S. 82 into Garland) is now Highway 134.
  • Waldo and most of Magnolia were bypassed in the 1970s. The Waldo segment is now Highway 98 and Highway 19; the Magnolia segment is now a business route.
  • El Dorado was bypassed in the 1980s; Highway 2 is now a business route.
  • The segment between Crossett and Hamburg has been rerouted several times, most recently in the 1970s. Based on comparing 1936 and current Arkansas Highway & Transportation Department (AHTD) maps of Ashley County (1936 was shortly after it became U.S. 82), Highway 2 is now parts of Highway 133 and Highway 52 north of Crossett, a short spur of Highway 189 in Hamburg, and a county road from the end of Highway 189 south to Highway 52.
  • Montrose was bypassed in the 1940's by a railroad overpass; Highway 2 is now a minor business route.
  • According to a 1936 AHTD map of Chicot County, east of Lake Village, U.S. 82 (Highway 2) turned northeast along Lake Chicot to the old ferry crossing near Greenville, Mississippi; that alignment is now Highway 144 from Lake Village past Lake Chicot State Park to its end at the Mississippi River levee. U.S. 82 was rerouted south of Lake Chicot when the Benjamin G. Humphreys Bridge opened in 1940; it will retain most of that alignment after the new Greenville Bridge opens nearby.

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