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Benton, Arkansas is growing – big time – with new business developments coming rapidly. This creates more traffic, and therefore, a need for improved infrastructure in the area.

MySaline asked the Arkansas Department of Transportation (ARDOT) for details on what’s planned for access to the future Buc-ee’s Travel Center at Exit 114 on Interstate 30 westbound. We ended up with answers, illustrations, and a bonus history lesson. We also asked for a finish date for the relocation of Exit 117. Read more below. 🦫

BUC-EE’S ROADS & APPROACHES

Buc-ee’s has been on our community’s collective mind since mid-2023, when MySaline broke the story that they would be building a location at Exit 114 in Benton. There is a craze that follows Buc-ee’s locations. People who have visited one of their stores know that this isn’t an ordinary gas station. They don’t allow tractor trailers/semi trucks, but there is plenty of room for passenger vehicles to come in, gas up, shop apparel, home goods and more… eat snacks or brisket,  use a clean restroom, and shop some more.

So my point here is that there is going to be a LOT of traffic bustling in and around the parking lot, as well as the adjoining streets. What’s the plan? Well, Buc-ee’s, ARDOT and the City of Benton do indeed have a plan for that. ARDOT provided several pages of illustrations, but the main page is at the top here.

The highlighted areas show ARDOT’s jurisdiction in pink, and the yellow is Buc-ee’s and the City of Benton.

PINK PATH

The pink shows the path of off-ramp traffic that has just taken Exit 114 and turned right, onto Arkansas Highway 229. Note that ARDOT is constructing approaches to the Buc-ee’s private streets. Starting at the bottom of the image, you’ll see one approach coming directly from the frontage road. This will connect to the yellow, private road, and it’s for delivery trucks to bring inventory to the store. As we understand it, those big trucks will circle the store, enter on Jesse Thompson Parkway, make the deliveries, then exit using the opening at the frontage road.

YELLOW PATH

The yellow path will be shared between the Buc-ee’s delivery traffic and the City of Benton’s RV park that is currently being built directly behind it (to the right of it, in the above illustration). Here are some bonus close-up illustrations, for transportation geeks:

THE HISTORY LESSON

While studying the illustration, I wondered who Jesse Thompson is, and why he will have a street/parkway named after him, behind the Buc-ee’s store. It’s not someone related to the former property owner – their last name is Thomas. I made a call to the City. Benton Mayor Tom Farmer said that he had the same question when he saw the plans.

After speaking to Buc-ee’s representatives, Farmer said he learned that whenever they build a new location, they name their delivery street after someone local to that store that was among those who defended the Alamo. So he was quickly reminded that they are a Texas company, and they want people to “remember” that – and the Alamo too, perhaps.

Now I wanted to know more about this “Alamo Defender,” and I knew people who see the “Jesse Thompson Parkway” sign would want to know as well. I did an internet search, but found only a birth year and Arkansas – no city name. I wanted to know if he was from the Saline County area, (yayy) or somewhere else in Arkansas (booo).

I called Congressman French Hill’s office, hoping they had better access to veteran records than I did. Unfortunately, they came up with the same results. Undeterred, I tried the Saline County Library next. Mason Newberry answered the phone, and after brainstorming together, something occurred to us.

Those of you who are better students of history will already what I’m about to say. If Thompson was in the battle at the Alamo, it was before 1836. Arkansas didn’t become a state until that year. According to various records Thompson was born in 1789, and Arkansas part of a larger territory held by the Spanish. There were no cities yet in Arkansas, so that’s why Thompson does not show a city with his birthdate. Arkansas Post existed since 1686 and that was the closest thing to a city, outside of indigenous populations. Research shows that there may have been around 1,000 people in the area at the time Thompson was born.

Thompson moved to Texas at some point and enlisted in the Texas military in 1835. He died as a garrison defending the Alamo on March 6, 1836. Other Alamo Defenders from Arkansas were Isaac Baker, Jesse B. Bowman, Davy Crockett, and Henry Warnell. Read more of Thompson’s story, using the links at the end of this article.

EXIT 117 FINISH DATE

Lastly, we have news about the finish date for moving Westbound Exit 117. The off-ramp currently drops motorists just past the entrance to Home Depot. This causes traffic to circle around on neighborhood streets to find the businesses in Hickory Square. The City of Benton began a plan a few years ago to move that exit eastward, to make convenient access to businesses like Chepe’s, Tinseltown, Benton Event Center, Fairfield Inn and Suites, Starbucks, Tractor Supply Co., Swing Shop, Wright’s Barbecue coming soon, and many others.

You can see the video MySaline created, with Matt Thibault from the City, explaining the plan. It features drone camera work by Matt Albright, which helps to get an idea of the landmarks. See that video below, and another one that shows a map and follows the path of ARDOT’s plan.

I asked ARDOT’s Public Information Officer, Dave Parker, about the goal date to have the new path finished. Parker said they look for it to be open around late 2027.

Links for more on Jesse Thompson:

• https://www.thealamo.org/remember/battle-and-revolution/defenders/jesse-g-thompson#fromDefendersList
• https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Thompson-22080
• https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/8736722/jesse-g.-thompson

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