Interstate 555

Interstate 555
Map of I-555 in red
Route information
Maintained by AHTD
Length:	49.8 mi[1] (80.1 km)
Existed:	March 11, 2016[2][3] – present
History:	Signage in progress
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
Interstate Highway System Main Auxiliary Suffixed Business Arkansas Highway System Interstate US State Business Spurs Scenic Heritage Trails ← AR 549 I-630 →

Interstate 555 (I-555) is an Interstate Highway that connects Turrell, Arkansas, at I-55 to Jonesboro at Arkansas Highway 91 (Hwy. 91). I-555 travels along what is currently U.S. Route 63 (US 63). That highway was upgraded in the 2000s to Interstate Highway standards. I-555 is 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).

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 was the construction of a parallel access road across a floodway between Payneway and Marked Tree, so that farm equipment would no longer have to use US 63 to cross the floodway. To date, no crossing has ever been built, but an exemption of agricultural vehicles was added to I-555 between Marked Tree and Payneway The exemption was introduced by U.S. Representative Rick Crawford and passed as part of the House Transportation Bill on December 4, 2015.

It was announced in December 2015, that I-555 would be officially designated in Spring of 2016.^[4] The road was officially dedicated on March 11, 2016 in Jonesboro.

Exit list

County	Location	mi	km	Exit	Destinations	Notes
Crittenden	Turrell			1	I-55 / AR 77 south / US 61 / US 63 south	Exit 23A (I-55)
	Gilmore			2	AR 77 north – Gilmore
Poinsett				7	AR 135 – Lepanto
	Tyronza			8	AR 118 – Tyronza
	Marked Tree			13	US 63B north / AR 149 – Marked Tree, Earle
				14	US 63B south (AR 14 east) / AR 75 – Marked Tree, Lepanto, Parkin	South end of AR 14 overlap
				18	AR 14 west – Payneway, Harrisburg	North end of AR 14 overlap
				24	AR 463 – Trumann
	Trumann			29	AR 69 – Trumann
Craighead	Bay			35	AR 463 – Bay
	Jonesboro			36	Nestlé Road
				39	AR 18S (Commerce Drive)
				40	US 63B north / AR 463 south
				42	US 49 north / AR 1 (Stadium Boulevard/Red Wolf Boulevard) / Caraway Road	South end of US 49 overlap
				44	AR 1B (Harrisburg Road)
				45	US 49 south / AR 18 east (Southwest Drive)	North end of US 49 overlap; south end of AR 18 overlap
				46	AR 226 west (Wood Springs Road) / Strawfloor Road
				47	Washington Avenue
				49	AR 91 (Dan Avenue / AR 18 west) / US 63 north	North end of freeway; north end of AR 18 overlap; 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. "I-555 to be dedicated (2016-05-11) Friday in Jonesboro". KASU. Retrieved March 10, 2016.
3. "40-years-in-the-making-i-555-in-arkansas-becoming-reality". KATV. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
4. Arkansas News Bureau. "Highway Commission Approves I-555 Designation For Section Of U.S. 63". Times Record.

External links

• Interstate 555 Arkansas
• Putting the "Future" in I-555 (KAIT-TV)