So to avoid today's congested corridor, they are planning a replacement congested corridor a little to the west. OK -- but if they don't want to simply replicate their current problems, they need to think seriously about long-term management of growth along the new route. The optimistic statements in the article from city officials and business owners along today's Highway 71 are laughable given our now-70 years of history with interstate bypasses. Once the new road is built, all new businesses of any size will locate along the new road. The old commercial corridor and old downtowns don't wither and die overnight, but in 30 years, if it's not carefully planned, a new strip city will sprawl along the interstate and the older areas will be hollowed out.
As close as I've been to that area is the Pea Ridge battlefield. That area is open prairie. Bentonville sprawl is starting to appear on the viewshed. At least this new road will pull the development west. Whether there's anything over that direction worth preserving, I don't know.
Taking a minute to adjust my flame-retardant clothing here. Aaaaah, there we go!
If they had built the bypass with toll bonds, then at least some of the businesses would stay along US 71, since fewer trucks and cars would use the bypass, thus containing the sprawl. No zoning impositions necessary, except to get rid of ridiculous umpteen-acres-per-household requirements.
I’ve come to be of the opinion that when a major project is done on a stretch of interstate, such as widening the road or rehabilitating it from the ground up, the projects should be paid for at least in part with tolls. Minor improvements such as repaving, tweaking interchanges, or replacing guardrails or median barriers, would not count. As sphinx has implied, people in established neighborhoods will naturally resent such major projects being done so that long distance commuters can freely whiz hither and yon through the neighborhoods. If a price is imposed, not as many people will be likely to long-distance commute, plus it is user-pays to use these quality routes.
Non-free roads would also help contain sprawl, as people would be more likely to live closer in to job centers.
If there is any zoning in NW AR preventing dense developments or mixed-use development, they should get rid of it, so that people have the FREEDOM to create such developments (rather than being forced to by other oppressive zoning laws).