Interstate 555

Interstate 555 marker

Interstate 555

Map of Future I-555 in red
Route information
Length: 49.8 mi[1] (80.1 km)
Major junctions
South end: I-55 / AR 77 / US 63 / US 61 in Turrell
North end: US 63 / AR 18 / AR 91 in Jonesboro
Highway system
← AR 549I-630 →

Interstate 555 (I-555) is a future Interstate Highway that is slated to connect Turrell, Arkansas, at I-55 to Jonesboro at Arkansas Highway 91 (Hwy. 91). I-555 will travel along what is currently U.S. Route 63 (US 63). That highway was upgraded in the 2000s to Interstate Highway standards. The road is currently awaiting Interstate status pending a second crossing between Payneway and Marked Tree to accommodate farm equipment. I-555 will be the second Interstate with all three digits the same, to exist, the first to be signed as an Interstate (I-444 in Oklahoma is unsigned). Another three-digit interstate with the same number is proposed and is Interstate 222, a connector between I-22 and I-422 in Alabama.

Route description

The road provides a limited-access highway corridor between Memphis, Tennessee, and Arkansas's fifth largest city, Jonesboro.

History

The I-555 route was approved on January 10, 2001, consisting of upgrading the section of US 63 between Turrell to Jonesboro to interstate standards.

According to the 2007 Arkansas state highway map, only a segment from Tyronza to Gilmore was not yet up to freeway standards. However, as of August 5, 2007 the Hwy. 135 interchange on that section, the last one remaining, is open, thus making the route a true freeway.

A few mainline bridges between Marked Tree and Turrell are from the original two-lane US 63 and are narrower than current Interstate Highway standards, but I-530 was approved in 1999 despite having a similar issue.

The last requirement to formally designate this route as I-555 is the construction of a parallel access road across a floodway between Payneway and Marked Tree, so that farm equipment will no longer have to use US 63 to cross the floodway. When it is signed as I-555, farm equipment will be banned from the interstate; alternate routes for farmers would lead to detours of up to 1.5 hours. Though reportedly funding for the access road itself is still up in the air as of 2013, the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission (which owns the floodway as part of a wildlife management area) is proceeding with bids for a mitigation project apparently related to the floodway crossing.

It was announced[2] in December 2015, that I-555 would be officially designated in Spring of 2016. An exception will be made between Marked Tree and Payneway to allow farm vehicles on the highway.

Exit list

CountyLocationmikmExitDestinationsNotes
CrittendenTurrell I-55 / AR 77 south / US 61 / US 63 southFuture southern terminus of I-555
Gilmore AR 77 north – Gilmore
Poinsett  AR 135 – Lepanto
Tyronza AR 118 – Tyronza
Marked Tree US 63B north / AR 149 – Marked Tree, Earle
US 63B south (AR 14 east) / AR 75 – Marked Tree, Lepanto, Parkinsouth end of AR 14 overlap
  AR 14 west – Payneway, Harrisburgnorth end of AR 14 overlap
  AR 463 – Trumann
Trumann AR 69 – Trumann
CraigheadBay AR 463 – Bay
JonesboroNestlé Road
AR 18S (Commerce Drive)
US 63B north / AR 463 south
US 49 north / AR 1 (Stadium Boulevard) / Caraway Roadsouth end of US 49 overlap
AR 1B (Harrisburg Road)
US 49 south / AR 18 east (Southwest Drive)north end of US 49 overlap; south end of AR 18 overlap
AR 226 west (Wood Springs Road) / Strawfloor Road
Washington Avenue
AR 91 (Dan Avenue / AR 18 west) / US 63 northinterchange; north end of freeway; north end of AR 18 overlap; Future northern terminus of I-555
1.000 mi = 1.609 km; 1.000 km = 0.621 mi

References

  1. ↑ Google (June 19, 2015). "Interstate 555" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved June 19, 2015.
  2. ↑ Arkansas News Bureau. "Highway Commission Approves I-555 Designation For Section Of U.S. 63". Times Record.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Monday, February 08, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.