Arkansas Highway 22 (AR 22) is an east–west

state highway A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either Route number, numbered or maintained by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered ...

in the

Arkansas River Valley The Arkansas River Valley, also known as the Arkansas Valley, is a region in Arkansas defined by the Arkansas River in the western part of the state. Generally defined as the area between the The Ozarks, Ozark and Ouachita Mountains, the River V ...

. The route runs from US 64 in Fort Smith east to Highway 7 in Dardanelle. Following the historic

stagecoach A stagecoach (also: stage coach, stage, road coach, ) is a four-wheeled public transport coach used to carry paying passengers and light packages on journeys long enough to need a change of horses. It is strongly sprung and generally drawn by ...

line of the cross-country

Butterfield Trail Butterfield Overland Mail (officially Overland Mail Company)Waterman L. Ormsby, edited by Lyle H. Wright and Josephine M. Bynum, "The Butterfield Overland Mail", The Huntington Library, San Marino, California, 1991. was a stagecoach service in ...

, the route is one of the original 1926 state highways. It is designated by the AHTD as the '
True Grit Trail
''.

Route description

The route begins in Fort Smith at US 64/ US 71B. It runs east, crossing I-540/ US 71 and the incomplete interchange at the northern end of Highway 549 (future

I-49 Interstate 49 (I-49) is a north–south Interstate Highway with multiple segments. The original portion is entirely within Louisiana with an additional signed portion extending from I-220 in Shreveport to the Arkansas state line, three ne ...

). From its western terminus in Fort Smith, it carries the

Seminole The Seminole are a Native American people who developed in Florida in the 18th century. Today, they live in Oklahoma and Florida, and comprise three federally recognized tribes: the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, the Seminole Tribe of Florida, ...

route of the

Trail of Tears The Trail of Tears was the forced displacement of about 60,000 people of the " Five Civilized Tribes" between 1830 and 1850, and the additional thousands of Native Americans and their black slaves within that were ethnically cleansed by the U ...

to Highway 255. Highway 255 then intersects Highway 96 east of the installation. The route next enters Charleston where it meets Highway 217 and the historic

. The historic route continues along Highway 22 to its eastern terminus in Dardanelle. Continuing east into

Branch A branch, also called a ramus in botany, is a stem that grows off from another stem, or when structures like veins in leaves are divided into smaller veins. History and etymology In Old English, there are numerous words for branch, includ ...

, the route has a brief concurrency with Highway 41.

County Line High School County Line High School is a comprehensive high school in Branch, Arkansas located along the Franklin County and Logan County border. Established in 1950, school supports students in grades 7 through 12 and is administered by the County Line S ...

is located on the highway between Branch and

Ratcliff Ratcliff or Ratcliffe is a locality in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames between Limehouse (to the east), and Shadwell (to the west). The place name is no longer commonly used. History Etymol ...

. In the town of Caulksville, Highway 22 has a junction with Highway 23. Continuing east into the city of

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, the highway has a junction with Highway 109/ Highway 309. Highway 22 continues east to Subiaco, where it crosses Highway 197. In Midway, Highway 22 meets Highway 109, which heads north towards Clarksville. Highway 22 continues east to Dardanelle, passing through the communities of New Blaine and

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...

along the way. In Dardanelle, the route terminates at Highway 7 after an intersection with Highway 155. The road itself is fairly straight and in reasonably good repair. Passing can be safely accomplished in several stretches of Highway 22 despite a lack of constructed passing areas.

History

The precursor to today's Highway 22 was the

, a

trail officially known as the Overland Mail Company that traveled roughly along the present-day highway's route from Dardanelle to Fort Smith. The stagecoach carried mail and passengers from

Memphis Memphis most commonly refers to: * Memphis, Egypt, a former capital of ancient Egypt * Memphis, Tennessee, a major American city Memphis may also refer to: Places United States * Memphis, Alabama * Memphis, Florida * Memphis, Indiana * Mem ...

to Fort Smith. In Fort Smith the trail split into two routes, with one traveling west to

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

and the other traveling north to

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

. The Butterfield Trail was in operation from 1858 to 1861. Upon its establishment, Highway 22 was one of the original 1926 Arkansas state highways. Highway 22 ran from Fort Smith to Dardanelle along a routing very similar to the modern-day routing of AR 22. On July 14, 2015 the highway was linked to Future I-49 in Barling. In June 2019 a proposal was made under the Connecting Arkansas Program-2 for US$25 million to be allocated to the improvement of sections of Highway 22 between Fort Smith and Charleston. On March 20 of the same year, the highway was officially designated by the AHTD as the True Grit Trail. The name comes from the 1968 novel, '' True Grit'' by

Charles Portis Charles McColl Portis (December 28, 1933 – February 17, 2020) was an American author best known for his novels '' Norwood'' (1966) and the classic Western '' True Grit'' (1968). Both ''Norwood'' and ''True Grit'' were adapted as films, releas ...

. Frank Ross, father of the protagonist Mattie Ross, travels along Highway 22 from Dardanelle to Fort Smith.

National Register of Historic Places

Three original segments of Highway 22 remain intact and are listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. The New Blaine segment was listed in 2003, the Barling segment was listed in May 2007, and the Yell County segment was listed in 2008. All three listings are contained within the ''Arkansas Highway History and Architecture Multiple Property Submission'', which preserves history from Arkansas's highway building era between 1910 and 1965.

Barling

The Old Arkansas 22, Barling Segment is a historic section of roadway in

Barling, Arkansas Barling is a city in Sebastian County, Arkansas, United States. It is part of the Fort Smith, Arkansas-Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2020 Census the population was 4,782, ranking it eighth in the Greater Fort Smith Area. B ...

. Now named Mayo Drive, it consists of a stretch of concrete pavement, two lanes wide, in the northwestern part of the city. It extends north from the current alignment of Highway 22 until it reaches a sharp curve, where the pavement narrows significantly, before continuing westward to rejoin the highway. This stretch of pavement was constructed in 1928 by the Koss Construction Company, and is longest section of surviving pavement of the early alignment of Highway 22.

New Blaine

Old Arkansas Highway 22 is a historic roadway section in

New Blaine, Arkansas New Blaine is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Logan County, Arkansas, United States. Per the 2020 census, the population was 173. The following sites listed on the National Register of Historic Places are in or n ...

. It consists of an S-shaped section asphalt, in length, built in 1930 by Cook & Ransom and the Schultz Construction Company to carry Highway 22. This section was bypassed by the present alignment in the 1960s. It is now designated as part of Highway 197, the Highway 197 Loop, and Rainbow Loop, and continues to provide the primary access to the town center.

Yell County

One surviving element of the original alignment survives in Yell County west of Dardanelle; it consists of County Road 906 (CR 906), a stretch of concrete pavement wide. This segment was listed on the

in 2008.

Major intersections

References

External links

{{commons category-inline, Arkansas Highway 22

022 022 may refer to: * Leduc 022, a French prototype aircraft * Tyrrell 022 The Tyrrell 022 was the car with which the Tyrrell Racing, Tyrrell team competed in the 1994 Formula One World Championship. The car was powered by the Yamaha Motor Compan ...

Transportation in Sebastian County, Arkansas Transportation in Franklin County, Arkansas Transportation in Logan County, Arkansas Transportation in Yell County, Arkansas National Register of Historic Places in Logan County, Arkansas Buildings and structures completed in 1929 Roads on the National Register of Historic Places in Arkansas Buildings and structures completed in 1928 Buildings and structures in Sebastian County, Arkansas National Register of Historic Places in Sebastian County, Arkansas National Register of Historic Places in Yell County, Arkansas