Highway 38 (AR 38, Ark. 38, and Hwy. 38) is a designation for three

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 Arkansas. One route of runs east from Highway 367 at Cabot to US Route 49 (US 49) near

Hunter Hunting is the human activity, human practice of seeking, pursuing, capturing, or killing wildlife or feral animals. The most common reasons for humans to hunt are to harvest food (i.e. meat) and useful animal products (fur/hide (skin), hide, ...

. A second route of begins at Interstate 40 (I-40) and runs east to Highway 147 near Horseshoe Lake. A third route of runs in

West Memphis West Memphis is the largest city in Crittenden County, Arkansas, Crittenden County, Arkansas, United States. The population was 26,245 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, ranking it as the state's 18th largest city, behind Bella Vista, ...

as Martin Luther King Jr. Drive from US 70 north to

I-55 Interstate 55 (I-55) is a major Interstate Highway in the central United States. As with most primary Interstates that end in a five, it is a major cross-country, north–south route, connecting the Gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes. The h ...

/ US 61/ US 64/ US 79. All routes are maintained by the

Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department 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 ...

(AHTD).

Route description

Cabot to Hunter

Highway 38 begins at

US 67 U.S. Route 67 is a major north–south U.S. highway which extends for 1,560 miles (2,511 km) in the Central United States. The southern terminus of the route is at the United States-Mexico border in Presidio, Texas, where it continues so ...

and then intersects Highway 367 at the city limits of Cabot in

Lonoke County Lonoke County is located in the Central Arkansas region of the U.S. state of Arkansas. As of the 2010 census, the population was 68,356, making it the 11th-most populous of Arkansas's 75 counties. The county seat is Lonoke and largest city is ...

. The highway connects agricultural areas in Arkansas's

Grand Prairie Grand Prairie is a city in Dallas, Tarrant, and Ellis counties of Texas, in the United States. It is part of the Mid-Cities region in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It had a population of 175,396 according to the 2010 census, making it th ...

, including rice and soybeans as well as

aquaculture Aquaculture (less commonly spelled aquiculture), also known as aquafarming, is the controlled cultivation ("farming") of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, mollusks, algae and other organisms of value such as aquatic plants (e.g. lot ...

. Passing east through

Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

, where it has an intersection with Highway 319. The intersection is near the Sears House, an 1860 antebellum home in late Greek Revival-

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian R ...

style listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

(NRHP). Continuing east, Highway 38 runs through unincorporated area in eastern Lonoke County, intersecting Highway 321 near Sylvania and

Highway 31 The following highways are numbered 31: International * Asian Highway 31 * European route E31 Australia * Hume Highway ** Hume Motorway ** Hume Freeway * - South Australia ** Gorge Road ** Little Para Road ** South Para Road ** Lyndoch V ...

near Butlerville before entering Prairie County. Upon entering Prairie County, Highway 38 continues to pass through rural, agricultural areas with small settlements at intersections with other state highways. The highway intersects

Highway 13 The following roads may be referred to as Route 13 or Highway 13. For a list of roads named A13, see List of A13 roads. International * Asian Highway 13 * European route E13 * European route E013 Afghanistan *The Kabul–Behsud Highway - ...

at Hickory Plains, Highway 86 at

Hayley Hayley (pronounced ) is an English given name. It is derived from the English surname Haley (surname), Haley, which in turn was based on an Old English toponym, a compound of ''heg'' "hay" and ''leah'' "clearing or meadow".Katie Martin-Doyle, '' ...

, and Highway 11 at Four Mile Corner. Highway 11 begins a concurrency with Highway 38 eastward toward Des Arc, the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...

for the northern district of Prairie County. Entering Des Arc, Highway 38 and Highway 11 intersect Highway 323 near the Lower White River Museum State Park. Highway 323 runs to the downtown business district, with Highway 38 turning northeast and bypassing most of the city. In northern Des Arc, the concurrency with Highway 11 ends, with Highway 11 turning due north toward the Bayou De View Wildlife Management Area and Searcy. This intersection also contains Highway 323Y, which is a short spur route providing access to downtown Des Arc. Highway 38 continues along the northern edge of Des Arc, passing the historic Oak Grove Cemetery, listed on the NRHP, and crossing over the White River on a 1970 steel through truss bridge. Highway 33 overlaps Highway 38 in eastern Prairie County until the Woodruff County line, when Highway 33 turns north toward Augusta, ending the concurrency. Running east as a section line road, Highway 38 enters Woodruff County at Little Dixie and runs east to

Cotton Plant ''Gossypium'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the tribe Gossypieae of the mallow family, Malvaceae, from which cotton is harvested. It is native to tropical and subtropical regions of the Old and New Worlds. There are about 50 ''Gossypiu ...

. Serving as Main Street in Cotton Plant, the highway passes intersects Highway 306 before beginning a short overlap with Highway 17 through historic downtown Cotton Plant. East of the city, Highway 38 briefly dips into Monroe County and crosses Bayou DeView before meeting US 49 at a rural intersection, where the route terminates.

I-40 to Hughes

West Memphis

History

The route from Des Arc to Cotton Plant was originally designated as part of Arkansas State Road B-7 in the original 1924 state highway plan. This route ran north from the

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

area to Cotton Plant via Des Arc, roughly along present-day US 63, Highway 11 and Highway 38. During the

1926 Arkansas state highway numbering In 1926, Arkansas renumbered its highways into a more traditional format. The system to be replaced was established in 1924 as Arkansas' first comprehensive highway plan.McLaren, Christie. "Arkansas Highway History and Architecture, 1910-1965.Art ...

, the Highway 38 designation was assigned to the short connector highway between Des Arc and Cotton Plant. The route was extended west to Cabot in the late 1930s. A minor routing change west of Hughes involving a new bridge over Blackfish Bayou occurred in 1956. Highway 38 was extended east in 1958 following the construction of a new US 79 alignment in Hughes. Highway 38 was extended east, creating an overlap with Highway 50 and terminating at Highway 147 near Horseshoe Lake. The area around Horseshoe Lake with Highway 38 and Highway 147 was renumbered in 1959 "for the convenience and guidance of the traveling public". This rerouting was changed in 1963 to "eliminate confusion" near Horseshoe Lake, resulting in the creation of Highway 131 and rerouting Highway 147.

Major intersections

Notes

References

External links

{{commons category-inline, Arkansas Highway 38 038 Transportation in Lonoke County, Arkansas Transportation in Prairie County, Arkansas Transportation in Woodruff County, Arkansas Transportation in St. Francis County, Arkansas Transportation in Crittenden County, Arkansas Great River Road