Bi-State Profile

The Bi-State MPO Area encompasses nearly 550 square miles in western Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma. (Work began in 2007 to expand the MPO area.  Once this has been completed, the MPO area will be approximately 860 square miles.) The current MPO area embraces over 230 square miles of eastern Sequoyah County and northeastern LeFlore County in Oklahoma and approximately 315 square miles of southwestern Crawford County and northwestern Sebastian County in Arkansas.  The Arkansas River, flowing eastward through a relatively flat and narrow valley, bisects the Area.  Although large sections of all four counties have mountainous terrain, those portions of the counties that are within the BSMPO Area have flat to rolling terrains.  The central cities of Fort Smith and Van Buren reflect this type of topography in that they both exhibit a rather flat topography adjacent to the Arkansas River and a rolling to hilly topography away from the River valley.  The lands outside of the two central cities, yet still within the BSMPO Area, however, demonstrate a different topographical cross section.  Here, the terrain becomes more mountainous with numerous mountain elevations reaching over 2,200 feet separated by narrow wooded valleys and small mountain streams.

2007 population estimates for the various geographies for the Bi-State MPO Area are:

Geography	2007 Population Estimates
Urbanized Area	131,000
MPO Area	190,000
MSA	293,000
BSMPO Market Area	390,000

There are 21 units of government in the Bi-State Area. Thirteen of these are in Arkansas and eight are in Oklahoma.  The Bi-State MPO also has two Indian Nations, the Cherokee Nations and the Choctaw Nations both of which serve n the Bi-State MPO Board.  There is also one Public Trust, Fort Chaffee Trust, in the MPO area and it, too serves on the MPO Board.

Additional information pertaining to Profile information and data can be found in the Bi-State 2030 Transportation and Mobility Plan, Time for New Directions, that can be found in the Downloadable Documents of our website.  This information begins on page 15 of the Plan.

For the data freaks and curious researchers, we have prepared a list of Metropolitan Statistical Areas from around the Country that have a population within 10%+/- of the Fort Smith MSA.  We hope this list is informative.

Fort Smith Arkansas/Oklahoma MSA Estimated 2006 Population = 288,818
MSA	2006 Estimated Population
Atlantic City, NJ	271,620
Boulder, CO	282,304
Charleston, WV	305,526
Columbus, GA	288,847
Duluth, MN	274,244
Erie, PA	279,811
Fort Collins, CO	276,253
Green Bay, WS	299,003
Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH	285,475
Kalamazoo-Portage, MI	319,738
Bristol-Kingsport, VA-TN	302,451
Lincoln, NE	283,970
Lubbock, TX	261,411
Naples-Marco Island, FL	314,649
Norwich-New London, CT	263,293
Ocala, FL	316,183
Roanoke, VA	295,050
South Bend-Mishawaka, IN-MI	318,007
Spartanburg, SC	271,087
Utica-Rome, NY	297,286

Source: Population Division, U.S. Census
Release Date: April 5, 2007

Fort Smith Arkansas/Oklahoma MSA Estimated 2006 Population = 288,818
Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, AR-MO	420,876
Hot Springs	95,164
Jonesboro	113,330
Little Rock-North Little Rock	652,834
Pine Bluff	103,638
Texarkana, AR-TX	134,510
West Memphis-Crittenden County	52,083

Source: Population Division, U.S. Census Bureau
Release Date: March 22, 2007