HELP from my Arkansas Veterans - Highway 270 East of Y-City Truck Restriction Question

I know it's a long shot but I'm hoping someone sees this before noonish tomorrow on Friday, January 14 2022.

I'm heading to Hot Springs, Arkansas and coming from Fort Smith, Arkansas.

Seems the fastest way is to take I-40 to HIghway 71 to Highway 270. But I looked in the 2022 Rand McNally Atlas and it seems highway 270 is a restricted route, according to the atlas, "East of Y-City - over Alexander Creek".

Does anyone know where Alexander Creek is? I checked my Atlas, checked Google Satellite View, there's a bunch of creeks around there but I didn't find an Alexander Creek east of Y-City and I looked on the satellite view (and in the atlas) all the way to Mt. Ida. The creeks I saw immediately east of Y-City are Steep Hollow Creek, Mill Creek and Tan-A-Hill Creek.

I looked and the fastest way around that restriction is to take Highway 71 and skip Y City and instead go south to Mena, then take Highway 88, where it meets up with Highway 270 at Pencil Bluff.

HOWEVER, this adds 25 minutes to my trip both ways because I'll have to go back the same way that I came. So altogether that adds 50 extra minutes and I'm going to be very pressed for time tomorrow.

So my questions for you guys are, where specifically is Alexander Creek and does anyone know what the restriction is? Is it 100% no trucks allowed east of Y-City to Alexander Creek, or is there some small bridge over an Alexander Creek (that I can't find on Google Maps nor the Atlas) where it maybe has a 30 or 35 ton limit or something like that?

Anybody ran this route before?

 

Yes that sign had to be the reason for the restriction! I didn't see any other signs from Y-City to Mt. Ida about no trucks or anything like that, so it's only that weight restriction for that bridge. And that bridge is hardly some "backwatered" wooden bridge hanging on by a thread. If that restriction sign hadn't have been there I wouldn't have thought twice about going over that bridge.

So I was empty coming from Fort Smith to Hot Springs, so I decided to take the 270/71 route in a hope to save time, since I am governed at 65 MPH. The first little part of it was rough because there was WAY more traffic than what I was expecting (I thought it would be way more rural). But, this problem was made 10X worse because of a Stevens truck leading a pack of about 15 cars/trucks and going a whopping 10 miles under the speed limit the whole time. New, heavy, who knows.

So I stopped at the rest area for about 10 minutes to stretch and use the bathroom and when I got back on the highway, I was golden. No traffic around me and the "Steven's Crowd" was nowhere to be found for the rest of my trip. I definetly saved time doing the 270/71 route than staying on the interestate, thanks to me being empty/not being around traffic most of the way and also because I can't go 70 on the interstate anyways.

Coming back I took your advice blairandgretchen and I took the interstate back up to Missouri.

I feel like an idiot. I thought to check my atlas for the restriction and thought to check google maps to find specifically where Alexander Creek was, but it didn't even cross my mind to use the 511 DOT app (I was tired when I wrote my original post and had had a long day).

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone in this thread! I couldn't reply yesterday but I saw all of your responses to the thread so I was able to make an informed decision on how to proceed. You guys helped me out a bunch as I am not familar with the vast majority of Arkansas past the interstate. Thanks!