page_title: Arkansas Highway System
section_title: Arkansas creates the State Highway Commission, restores federal funding
hierarchical_section_title: Arkansas Highway System / History / Arkansas creates the State Highway Commission, restores federal funding
caption_attribution_description: "Final" map of Arkansas' U.S. Numbered Highways in 1926.
context_page_description: The Arkansas Highway System is made up of all the highways designated as Interstates, U.S. Highways and State Highways in the US state of Arkansas. The system is maintained by the Arkansas Department of Transportation, known as the Arkansas State Highway Department until 1977 and the Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department from 1977 to 2017. The system contains 16,442.90 miles of Interstates, U.S. Routes, state highways, and special routes. The shortest members are unsigned state highways Arkansas Highway 806 and Arkansas Highway 885, both 0.09 miles in length. The longest route is U.S. Route 67, which runs 296.95 miles from Texarkana to Missouri.
context_section_description: Upon withdrawal of federal money in 1923, Governor Thomas McRae called a special session of the General Assembly to solve the problem. The result was Act 5, commonly known as the Harrelson Road Law. The most significant provision of the law created a state highway system, and the roads within it were eligible for federal funding to be disbursed by the Commission. The Commission gained significant influence over construction by having the ability to disburse federal aid to projects meeting its standards. The law also consolidated all construction and maintenance activities on public roads under the Highway Commission supervision, ensuring roads were built to Commission standards. The law also modified the number of commissioners, how they were appointed, and term limits.
  The state highway system was first created on October 10, 1923 by the Commission. The group traced all roads designated as "county roads" onto an official map, which became the official State Highway System of Arkansas on December 31, 1924. This map was kept in Little Rock as the official log of routes.
  The U.S. Route system came to Arkansas in 1926, and Arkansas gave its state highways numbers to match the national trend of numbered routes. This numbering remains largely intact today. During this time, many motor inns, such as the Tall Pines Motor Inn in Carroll County, Arkansas or the Crystal River Tourist Camp became favored by motorists over roadside camping. Arkansans and Americans were quickly becoming an automobile culture, and the open road became more accessible to the public.
  The Harrelson Road Law also eased the tax burdens of farmers significantly. Property owners wouldn't be fully relieved of financial responsibility until the Martineau Road Law of 1927, when the State of Arkansas assumed all road debt. After assuming this debt, the state added many taxes to the road users instead of the property owners. The State Road Patrol was established in 1929 to police the roads. The State Highway Commission would redesignate Arkansas highways in 1929, including an additional 1,812 miles (2,916 km). The situation would worsen with the Great Depression, when Arkansas was forced to default on many highway loans. The Federal Defense Highway Act of 1941 ordered construction funds be used only on important defense highways, but Arkansas's poorly maintained roads needed funding statewide.
caption: 1926 map of the U.S. routes in Arkansas.
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