Arkansas River system upgraded to ‘Corridor’ status

A federal classification upgrade of the Arkansas River from “Connector” to “Corridor” status will raise the river’s visibility in the shipping world and could help bring more federal dollars for river system maintenance and enhancements, said port operator Marty Shell.

The McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System (MKARNS) was upgraded under the U.S. Department of Transportation’s America’s Marine Highway Program. According to a press release from the Arkansas Waterways Commission, the upgrade, which the release said was announced Monday by Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, places the system in the same category as other major inland waterways and could lead to future port and waterways expansion projects. The Mississippi River is also a marine highway. 

The Arkansas river system is 445 miles long and stretches from the confluence of the Mississippi River to the Port of Catoosa near Tulsa, Okla. The controlled waterway has 18 locks and dams, with 13 in Arkansas and five in Oklahoma. The river also has five ports: Pine Bluff, Little Rock, Fort Smith, Muskogee, Okla., and the Tulsa Port of Catoosa in Oklahoma. 

Marty Shell, owner of Van Buren-based Five Rivers Distribution which operates the port facilities in Van Buren and Fort Smith, said the upgrade is part of an overall effort in recent years to “move our river system forward and leave it in a better state for future generation for jobs, growth, and economic development.” Shell also said the upgrade improves the chance to get federal dollars to deepen the river system to 12 feet. The system is now dredged for a nine-foot depth, although many parts of the river are at 12 feet or more. A deeper channel allows a larger load on barges.

This is the third piece of good news for the MKARNS in recent months. Earlier this year, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers changed the system’s designation from a moderate-use to a high-use system, the same classification given to the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. Previously, the Corps had announced that its budget included a $3 million study of the “Three Rivers” area, which is the confluence of the Arkansas, Mississippi and White Rivers. A major flooding event in that area could shut down the system for up to a year. Half of the $3 million is funded by the federal government. State legislators agreed to fund the other half during this year’s legislative session.

The Oklahoma Department of Transportation Waterways division and the Arkansas Waterways Commission partnered to apply for the status upgrade.

"We appreciate the entire Arkansas Congressional delegation who supported this application as well as Oklahoma's entire delegation and Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins in Kansas. We also received support from public and private users of the waterway and the Metropolitan Planning agencies in both Arkansas and Oklahoma,” said Gene Higginbotham, executive director, Arkansas Waterways Commission.