H. 67 Through Arkansas

Highway 67 is not a bad road at all. It's 2 lane with small town slowdowns but It's the road I use to avoid I30 and find it quite relaxing. You can take 270 from Malvern to Pine Bluff then 79 on to near West Memphis. These are all decent roads. If you decide to cross at Helena just turn on 49 east of Clarendon and you are near Helena.

We returned 6/22 from a 3 week trip out west that took us 1000 miles down I-40 from Alabama to Santa Fe and back.

On the way out we crossed the Mississippi at West Helena to avoid Memphis. Good roads from N AL to I-40 at Brinkley, but very desolate - plan your fuel stops.

Coming back we decided to shoot the curl and try to pull thru Memphis for the first time. 1PM on a weekday and it went fine.

But to your point, I-40 thru Oklahoma is consistently bad just about the length of the state. Last weekend we found a couple of very rough spots on I-40 eastbound between Little Rock and Memphis, but nothing like Oklahoma. The signs say the construction around Forest City is finished, at least eastbound.

Can't speak for westbound from Memphis to Little Rock because we didn't go that way, but if I was coming east again this weekend I'd go thru Memphis again.

Just my 2 cents.

I haven't driven on Hwy 67 for several years so I can't comment on that, but I-40 Little Rock to Memphis is the road I avoid. Hwy 70 paralleling I-40 is possible, but a pleasant and lightly-traveled alternate would be Hwy 79, Pine Bluff to Memphis. (Take Hwy 270 to Pine Bluff, or pick up Hwy 79 further to the south.) That would avoid all but 20 miles of I-40.

Or, avoid I-40 completely by crossing the Mississippi at Helena, then up Hwy 61 in Mississippi.