Little Rock - Former congressman John Paul Hammerschmidt says it took him "about 25 years" to get Interstate 540 completed from the Fayetteville area to I-40 at Alma. Officials project a similar timeline - if not longer - for finishing the Arkansas segments of two major interstates that will cross the state.

Those roads are I-49 in western Arkansas and 1-69 across the southern half of the state.

I-49 will eventually include I-540 from Alma to the Missouri line as part of the interstate's route from Kansas City to Shreveport, La. Congressman Mike Ross, who has held the 4th District seat since 2001, says he looks at the I-49 project as a long-term deal, similar to what Hammerschmidt had to deal with in the 3rd District on I-540.

Ross said the same is true with I-69 across the state's south, from the Mississippi River to northwest Louisiana. Ross said I-69 was announced in Indianapolis five years before he was born, and he's now 48. He said he'd love to tell people that these two highways are going to be completed in the short term, but that isn't going to happen.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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