Interstate 555

Interstate 555
Map of Future I-555 in red
Route information
Length:	49.8 mi (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
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 a future Interstate Highway that is slated to connect Turrell, Arkansas, at I-55 to Jonesboro at Arkansas Highway 91. I-555 will run along what is currently U.S. Route 63 (US 63), and the road 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 3 digit interstate with the same number is proposed and is Interstate 222, a Connector between Interstate 422 and Interstate 22 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 Highway 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 U.S. 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 1½ 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.

Exit list

Main article: U.S. Route 63 in Arkansas § Major intersections

County	Location	mi	km	Exit	Destinations	Notes
Crittenden	Turrell				I-55 / AR 77 south / US 61 / US 63 south	Future 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, Parkin	south end of AR 14 overlap
	​				AR 14 west – Payneway, Harrisburg	north end of AR 14 overlap
	​				AR 463 – Trumann
	Trumann				AR 69 – Trumann
Craighead	Bay				AR 463 – Bay
	Jonesboro				Nestlé Road
					AR 18S (Commerce Drive)
					US 63B north / AR 463 south
					US 49 north / AR 1 (Stadium Boulevard) / Caraway Road	south 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 north	interchange; 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

External links

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