Highway 206 (AR 206 and Hwy. 206) is a designation for three 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 ''numbered'' or ''maintained'' by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered by a ...

s in the

Ozark Mountains The Ozarks, also known as the Ozark Mountains, Ozark Highlands or Ozark Plateau, is a physiographic region in the U.S. states of Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma and the extreme southeastern corner of Kansas. The Ozarks cover a significant portio ...

. Each segment was created during periods of state highway systemwide expansions ordered by the

Arkansas General Assembly The General Assembly of Arkansas is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The legislature is a bicameral body composed of the upper house Arkansas Senate with 35 members, and the lower Arkansas House of Representatives with 100 ...

to add system mileage in every county, first in 1957, and again in 1973. All are low-traffic highways providing connectivity between rural communities and major highways in the area. All are maintained by the

Arkansas Department of Transportation The Arkansas Department of Transportation (ArDOT), formerly the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department, is a government department in the U.S. state of Arkansas. Its mission is to provide a safe, efficient, aesthetically pleasing and en ...

(ArDOT).

Route description

The ArDOT maintains Highway 206 like all other parts of the state highway system. As a part of these responsibilities, the department tracks the volume of traffic using its roads in surveys using a metric called

average annual daily traffic Annual average daily traffic, abbreviated AADT, is a measure used primarily in transportation planning, transportation engineering and retail location selection. Traditionally, it is the total volume of vehicle traffic of a highway or road for a y ...

(AADT). ArDOT estimates the traffic level for a segment of roadway for any average day of the year in these surveys. As of 2019, AADT was estimated at 1,300 vehicles per day (VPD) near Bellefonte and as low as 610 VPD near the western terminus of Section 1. Section 2 had an AADT of 830 VPD, with Section 3 ranging from 200 to 20 VPD. For reference, the

American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) is a standards setting body which publishes specifications, test quality control, protocols, and guidelines that are used in highway design and construction through ...

(AASHTO), classifies roads with fewer than 400 vehicles per day as a ''very low volume local road''. No segment of Highway 206 has been listed as part of the National Highway System, a network of roads important to the nation's economy, defense, and mobility.

Section 1

The route begins in Boone County southwest of

Harrison Harrison may refer to: People * Harrison (name) * Harrison family of Virginia, United States Places In Australia: * Harrison, Australian Capital Territory, suburb in the Canberra district of Gungahlin In Canada: * Inukjuak, Quebec, or "Po ...

in the Ozark Mountains at a junction with Highway 43. Highway 206 runs south through a rural area of woods and hayfields to the

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

of Gaither. The highway turns east toward an area known as Krooked Kreek, where it junctions with

Arkansas Highway 7 Highway 7 (AR 7, Ark. 7, Hwy. 7, and partially Scenic 7 Byway) is a north–south state highway that runs across the state of Arkansas. As Arkansas's longest state highway, the route runs from Louisiana Highway 558 at the Louisiana state line n ...

(an

Arkansas Scenic Byway Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage la ...

). East of this junction, Highway 206 continues through Elmwood before turning north toward the small town of Bellefonte. Shortly after entering Bellefonte, Highway 206 meets

US 62 U.S. Route 62 or U.S. Highway 62 (US 62) runs from the Mexican border at El Paso, Texas, to Niagara Falls, New York, near the Canadian border. It is the only east-west United States Numbered Highway that connects Mexico and Canada ...

US 65 U.S. Route 65 (US 65) is a north–south United States highway in the southern and midwestern United States. The southern terminus of the route is at U.S. Route 425 in Clayton, Louisiana. The northern terminus is at Interstate 35 just south of In ...

US 412 U.S. Route 412 is an east–west United States highway, first commissioned in 1982. U.S. 412 overlaps expressway-grade Cimarron Turnpike from Tulsa west to Interstate 35 and the Cherokee Turnpike from east of Chouteau, Oklahoma, to west of the ...

, where it terminates.

Section 2

. In the southeast corner of Boone County, Highway 206 begins at US 65 southeast of Valley Springs and only north of the Newton County line. The highway winds east through sparsely populated Ozark Mountain countryside to the small town of Everton. East of Everton, the Highway 206 designation (and thus state maintenance) ends at the Marion County line. The roadway continues east as Marion County Road 4019 (CR 4019).

Section 3

A third segment of Highway 206 begins in rural Marion County at a junction with Highway 14 at the unincorporated community of

Ralph Ralph (pronounced ; or ,) is a male given name of English, Scottish and Irish origin, derived from the Old English ''Rædwulf'' and Radulf, cognate with the Old Norse ''Raðulfr'' (''rað'' "counsel" and ''ulfr'' "wolf"). The most common forms ...

. The highway runs east through rural Ozark Mountain countryside for , when state maintenance ends approximately four miles (6.4 km) west of

Rush Rush(es) may refer to: Places United States * Rush, Colorado * Rush, Kentucky * Rush, New York * Rush City, Minnesota * Rush Creek (Kishwaukee River tributary), Illinois * Rush Creek (Marin County, California), a stream * Rush Creek (Mono Cou ...

and the

Buffalo National River The Buffalo River, located in Northern Arkansas, was the first List of areas in the United States National Park System#National rivers and national wild and scenic rivers, National River to be designated in the United States. The Buffalo River i ...

. The roadway continues east as Marion CR 6022.

History

The

passed the Act 148 of 1957, the Milum Road Act, creating 10–12 miles (16–19 km) of new state highways in each county. As part of this system expansion, Highway 206 was created by the

Arkansas State Highway Commission The Arkansas Department of Transportation (ArDOT), formerly the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department, is a government department in the U.S. state of Arkansas. Its mission is to provide a safe, efficient, aesthetically pleasing and en ...

on July 10, 1957, between Gaither and Bellefonte. The alignment was slightly revised west of Highway 7 on January 28, 1959, and extended west to Highway 43 on June 29, 1960. The second Boone County segment was designated on March 28, 1973, in response to the Arkansas General Assembly's Act 9 of 1973, which directed

county judge The term county judge is applied as a descriptor, sometimes as a title, for a person who presides over a county court. In most cases, such as in Northern Ireland and the Victorian County Courts, a county judge is a judicial officer with civil ...

s and state legislators to designate up to 12 miles (19 km) of county roads as state highways in each county. The Marion County segment was created two months later in response to the same act..

Major intersections

References

Sources

* * * * * *

External links

*{{commons category-inline, Arkansas Highway 206 206 Transportation in Boone County, Arkansas Transportation in Marion County, Arkansas