Note: This article pertaining to Interstate 49: The Ultimate Boredom? was originally published on Thursday, November 5, 2017 at 11:41 in the morning and has been updated.
“Get ready for ultimate boredom on I49 haha” is what Chris wrote in the Comments section of this article pertaining to driving 1,790 miles in 33 hours written by Dan Miller of Points With a Crew; and DaninMCI agreed with Chris: “I’ve driven this a few times but I drove it years ago when they first opened a stretch of it in the Northern part of the state. It was so new they hadn’t even put up the mile marker signs yet. Miles and miles of nothing and few signs to tell you what was at each exit.”
Interstate 49: The Ultimate Boredom?
As part of my road trip around the United States, I did have the pleasure of driving on Interstate 49 for approximately 40 miles from northern Louisiana to Texarkana in Arkansas…
…and — save for the occasional car or truck — the highway was empty.
When I say empty, I mean that a vehicle could not be seen for miles.
Many minutes would pass before the faint rush of a vehicle could be heard off in the distance.
The concrete — as well as the landscaping, overpasses and exit ramps — suggested to me that this portion of Interstate 49 in Louisiana near the Arkansas state line was relatively new. The speed limit in Louisiana is 75 miles per hour; but it is reduced to 70 in Arkansas.
This section of Interstate 49 was apparently completed eleven years ago in late 2014.
Driving on Interstate 49 in 2025
After I visited Harry S. Truman Birthplace State Historic Site in Lamar in Missouri earlier this year, I then drove on Interstate 49 north almost 110 miles to its northern terminus south of Kansas City. The highway was significantly busier than the portion about which you just read in this article — especially along the section south of Kansas City — but outside of the greater Kansas City metropolitan area, traffic was still relatively sparse compared to many other highways.
The highway continues north as United States Highway 71, which much of Interstate 49 parallels for much of its length. The main reason why the Interstate 49 designation does not carry further north 10.2 miles into central Kansas City — even though most of the corridor in Kansas City was built to Interstate highway standards — is because three at-grade intersections with traffic lights prevent the Interstate 49 designation from being extended all the way to downtown Kansas City. All three of the intersections were on the 2010 list of “Top 20 Crash Sites in Kansas City” by the Kansas City Police Department. Furthermore, many neighborhood associations in Kansas City have historically objected to expanding what is known as Watkins Drive to a freeway — even though a median that is wide enough to accommodate the full width of a freeway currently exists.
Although a few sections still remain to be completed — including a significant section in southern Arkansas — Interstate 49 essentially connects Kansas City with New Orleans.
Final Boarding Call
I suppose that “ultimate boredom” is relative and depends on a number of factors. At least Interstate 49 goes over rolling hills and has trees lining either side of the highway. Portions of Interstate 40 between Kingman in Arizona and Oklahoma City cross vast expanses of absolutely flat land with no trees without even the slightest of curves in the rigidly straight highway.
Then again, some of the music to which I listen pairs perfectly with what are considered boring segments of highway; so I guess that I do not really mind driving on them, as doing so usually clears my mind — or has me thinking numerous random thoughts…
…or perhaps I just enjoy being out on the open road…
All photographs ©2017 by Brian Cohen.
