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Lawmakers have been working since the 1970s to turn a 44 mile stretch of U.S. Highway 63 into Interstate 555. KASU News has been following the development of this once-in-a-lifetime story and it's impact on Northeast Arkansas.

Crawford introduces I-555 amendment in Highway Bill

U.S. Representative Rick Crawford introduced an amendment that, if passed, could bring the future Interstate 555 closer to reality. 

If US Highway 63 was designated as an interstate, agricultural vehicles would not be allowed to use certain bridges on the highway. 

State Highway officials estimate that a new span to cross the St. Francis Floodway by Marked Tree would cost $30-50 million. 

In his amendment that was included in the House’s version of the federal Highway Bill, Crawford introduced an exemption for agricultural vehicles, which would allow Interstate 555 to be a reality without the new span. 

US Senator John Boozman has also submitted similar language to the Senate’s version of the Highway Bill. 

Representative Crawford has been chosen as a conferee and will help reconcile differences between the Senate and House versions of the bill.  

Johnathan Reaves is the News Director for KASU Public Radio. As part of an Air Force Family, he moved to Arkansas from Minot, North Dakota in 1986. He was first bitten by the radio bug after he graduated from Gosnell High School in 1992. While working on his undergraduate degree, he worked at KOSE, a small 1,000 watt AM commercial station in Osceola, Arkansas. Upon graduation from Arkansas State University in 1996 with a degree in Radio-Television Broadcast News, he decided that he wanted to stay in radio news. He moved to Stuttgart, Arkansas and worked for East Arkansas Broadcasters as news director and was there for 16 years.