Senator introduces bill for I-57 that would connect Sikeston with Little Rock

U.S. Sen. John Boozman, R-Arkansas, has introduced legislation that someday could lead to an extension of Interstate 57 from Sikeston, Missouri, to Little Rock, Arkansas, passing through Dexter and Poplar Bluff in Missouri and Corning, Arkansas, along the way.

Boozman, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, included a provision in the Fiscal Year 2017 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development funding bill, which designates U.S. 67 from North Little Rock to Walnut Ridge as “Future I-57.”

“Arkansas has worked for decades to build this road. The time has come to start calling it what it is — an interstate-quality highway that connects Arkansas farms, factories and travelers, to the rest of our country,” Boozman said in a news release Monday.

According to the release, the designation of U.S. 67 from Little Rock to Walnut Ridge as “Future I-57” establishes in federal law the region is on track to officially add an interstate connection from Little Rock to Chicago.

“New interstates take many years and support from the federal, state and local level to complete. As we work over the coming years to build future interstates in Arkansas, such as I-49, I-69 and a completed I-57, we will make Arkansas a better-connected state that is open for business,” Boozman said.

A number of Arkansas economic-development organizations spoke in favor of the legislation. Poplar Bluff Greater Area Chamber of Commerce president Steve Halter cited a potentially “tremendous” economic effect to Poplar Bluff and surrounding areas.

“We are thrilled Sen. Boozman has introduced this legislation,” Halter said. “Completing a four-lane highway between Poplar Bluff and Little Rock will have a tremendous economic impact for our entire region.”

The Highway 67 Corp., an organization that led the completion of a four-lane route from Poplar Bluff to Fredericktown, Missouri, also applauded the senator’s announcement.

“We of the Highway 67 corporate board are very interested in seeing some real important ‘fruit’ for our area. Because ever since we finished the job of four-laning 67 from Fredericktown to Poplar Bluff, we have tried to get Arkansas to be more interested in bringing Highway 67 to the state line,” said corporation chairman Tom Lawson.

Lawson said while the corporation had been in talks with Arkansas transportation officials since the completion of the Poplar Bluff/Fredericktown project in August 2011, the senator’s announcement came as a surprise.

“I didn’t know there was that much interest coming out of his office. I talked with him in Washington about four years ago, and he was interested, but said there just wasn’t any money,” Lawson said.

Arkansas residents in 2012 approved a half-cent sales tax to fund surface transportation projects and specifically, according to the ballot language, to focus on four-lane highway improvements. That tax also contains a 10-year expiration clause, and funds raised could not exceed $1.3 billion.

“Since that time, they have been interested in looking at major corridors and, thank goodness, they have realized Highway 67 is very important and they want to make that an interstate highway. We are certainly not opposed to that,” Lawson said.

Efforts by the Missouri Department of Transportation to gain funding through ballot and legislative means recently have met with failure. The I-57 project in Missouri, while no exact figure was available, certainly would cost millions the department doesn’t have at this time, according to local MoDOT officials.

“The big thing we are facing at the Missouri Department of Transportation is that right now we feel that we have a budget capable of taking care of what we have, but we do not have a budget to expand what we have. That, of course, is a challenge,” said MoDOT Southeast District engineer David Wyman.

Wyman said for the designation to take place, all unregulated access roads along the corridor from Sikeston to the state line would need to be removed. That would not only cost a considerable sum, but create headaches for the local agriculture industry.

“Basically, the definition of an interstate means that you have no at-grade crossings. All of the crossovers that we have through there — there are several with all the little towns — would have to be brought up to provide access to an interchange or access to an outer road, both of which are expensive,” Wyman said.

In light of the various challenges, Wyman said MoDOT remains hopeful funding for the project can be acquired.

“That being said, we definitely want to be a partner. We want to take part in the conversations the north Arkansas folks are having. We want to take part in the conversation the Arkansas highway department is having. We want to be a good partner — this stuff doesn’t happen overnight.

“We are hopeful the legislature and the people of Missouri will see the need for some more funding to allow for that expansion,” Wyman said.