The older portion of I-540, completed in the 1970s, connects Interstate 40 southwards to the Oklahoma state line, going through Van Buren and Fort Smith. This particular spur starts at Exit 7 on Interstate 40. That point marks mile zero on this spur, in keeping with Interstate Highway rules that spur mileage begins at the "parent" route. The first 3 miles are through Van Buren, before the bridge over the Arkansas River. The remainder, for a grand total of approximately, travels through Fort Smith. AHTD bid a $79 million project in 2013 for I-540 rehabilitation in Fort Smith that includes re-signing the route and renumbering the exits.
Fort Smith route
Beginning at the I-540 and I-40 junction in Van Buren, the route begins southward along the eastern boundary of Van Buren, with exits numbered sequentially heading south. The segment is largely concurrent with US 71. The first exit along this segment of I-540/US 71 is with US 64 and US 71B, which leads west into the Van Buren Historic District and east to Alma. Continuing south, I-540/US 71 passes over Highway 162, with no access between the routes. An exit providing access to Highway 59, via Riggs Drive or Twin Circle Drive, is just prior crossing the Arkansas River. After crossing the river, the highways enter Fort Smith and Sebastian County. I-540/US 71 run through a commercial area and has three exits with city collector roads before an exit for Phoenix Avenue, which gives access to Fort Smith Regional Airport. However, this exit does not have any access to southbound I-540/US 71. Now turning toward the southwest, I-540/US 71 have exits with Highway 45 and Highway 255. Following these intersections, US 71 departs I-540 southbound toward Texarkana, with US 71B terminating at the parent route at the exit. I-540 begins to pass through a residential area before its final exit at US 271 and Highway 253. Following this exit, the roadway continues but ceases to be I-540, becoming US 271 and entering Oklahoma.
History
The Interstate spur opened in phases. According to a 1970 road map of Fort Smith, exits 2-11 were opened, with later exits and the roadway itself still under construction. Portions of the roadway that became I-540 around Fayetteville were built in the early 1970s, but upgraded and extended in the mid-1990s. The highway around Fayetteville originally received US 71 signage until the complete I-540 spur was opened. Originally, I-540 running from I-40 to Oklahoma through Fort Smith was originally signed east–west, but with the construction of the spur that ran north through Northwest Arkansas to Bella Vista the entire I-540 was resigned as a north–south road. It is one of the few that have changed this way. In the late 1990s, I-540 was extended into Northwest Arkansas. It had been planned since the 1970s as a bypass of U.S. Highway 71. The first section, between Alma and Mountainburg was known as Arkansas Highway 540. Originally, the Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department asked the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, who are in charge of Interstate and U.S. Highway route numbering, to allow the Interstate segment between Fort Smith and Bentonville to be named I-49, in order to emphasize plans to extend the route from Shreveport, Louisiana, through Arkansas to Kansas City, Missouri. AASHTO refused and the route opened on January 8, 1999, as a northern extension of I-540. On October 18, 2013, AASHTO approved AHTD's application to designate I-49 across the state, specifically allowing the state to renumber I-540 as I-49. The northern section of I-540 was renumbered I-49 in April 2014.
Exit list
Arkansas Highway 540
Highway 540 was a temporary designation for what would later become Interstate 540 between Alma and Mountainburg in the U.S. state of Arkansas. Traveling a distance of approximately 12 miles, its southern terminus was at I-40 west of Alma and its northern terminus at US 71 in Mountainburg.
