While Coahoma County leaders are making a full-on press for another four-lane road or an interstate highway, the top official in the state Department of Transportation for this area says the county comes up short when measured against other areas in Mississippi.
While local business leaders say it’s important to have those roads to bring in new industry, it appears state transportation officials are saying, you create the jobs and we’ll bring the roads.
Tops on the local list are a four-lane Highway 6 and bringing Interstate 69 to Coahoma County. And those roads topped discussion at a meeting held Wednesday, Dec. 5 at the Clarksdale/Coahoma County Chamber of Commerce. The meeting, chaired by local businessman Jimmy Walker, featured Mike Tagert, who has been commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Transportation’s Northern District since his election in 2011.
Ed Peacock, president of the Clarksdale/Coahoma County Industrial Foundation, said it makes sense to make Highway 6 four lanes from Clarksdale all the way across to the Alabama state line.
He said there is no east-west four-lane corridor in the northern part of the state other than Highway 82, which runs from Greenville to Kosciusko to Starkville and Columbus.
“We’ve just been deprived in this poverty area,” Peacock said. “If you go in the rest of the state, you’re not going to have that.”
Peacock said an improved Highway 6 would be big for the county in its push for new industry.
“It’s hurting us with the industrial prospects not to have it,” he said, noting that he believes a four-lane Highway 6 could connect to Interstate 40 in Arkansas.
State representative Orlando Paden said a four-lane Highway 6 would be a game changer.
“Businesses have said they are willing to come in, but they need something to connect them to (Interstate) 55 to import and export goods,” said Paden, whose legislative district is made up mostly of Coahoma County.
Walker said Highway 6 serves as a “connector” to regional metro areas such as Dallas and Atlanta. Both he and Peacock claimed that a four-lane six would alleviate heavy traffic on nearby interstates.
“I think that’s an argument in our behalf,” Walker said. “You need to look at it as a connector road and not just a road to serve 6,000 cars.”
Tagert said their decisions are based on safety needs and maintenance.
Peacock said there are stretches of Highway 6, especially between Clarksdale and Marks, that are dangerous.
But Tagert replied, “I do understand your four-lane needs… but the truth is, you’ve got a relatively low average daily traffic count on that road (Highway 6).”
Mitch Turner, chief engineer for the Batesville district, said the average daily traffic count for Highway 6 is around 5,000 or 6,000 vehicles per day. That is significantly smaller than the 18,000 recorded on Highway 7 south of Oxford and the 16,000 per day on Highway 15 near Ecru.
Tagert said, “It’s not that every one of those vehicles aren’t important. I’m not telling you that route’s not important. But I’m just telling you what’s out there in the times that we’re in.”
Tagert said the only new projects being built in Mississippi are those where there are alternate sources of funding.
He pointed to the recently-finished Interstate 269 in the metro Memphis area as an example. Construction of the approximately $640 million project began in 2011 and consisted of about 26 miles of four-lane, controlled-access highway in Mississippi. The project was largely funded through Highway Enhancement through Local Partnership bonds, which are bonds issued by a local entity for which the Mississippi Department of Transportation pays the debt service through a combination of state and federal funds.
“All of our resources are going to maintenance and bridge replacement and/or repair,” said Tagert, who estimates 55 percent of his department’s budget is federal money.
He said the construction of the new bridge on Highway 6 over the Tallahatchie River near Batesville is a large project. The 3,300-foot span is part of $140 million that was allocated in 2014 by the state legislature to make bridge repairs along Highway 6.
“That is a tremendous amount of money,” Tagert said. “We’re not overbuilding. We’re trying to build what we can maintain and try to do it the cheapest way possible.”
Walker said there have been preliminary talks with leaders in communities such as Oxford, Batesville, Tupelo and Pontotoc to form a coalition in support of a four-lane Highway 6.
“This road affects all those people over there,” Walker said. “It’s not a local situation, it’s just as big as 269, or maybe bigger.”
Clarksdale mayor Chuck Espy said he believes this area is going to have to have the numbers to prove that it needs the expanded roads.
“If you don’t have substantial growth in your communities, that’s not going to happen. It falls on deaf ears if you’re not like the Gulf Coast. They’re progressively moving forward,” Espy said. “The argument is: You have to lift your own vote.”
He said one thing that could boost Coahoma County’s case would be the proposed Corey L. Moore Sports and Recreation Complex in Clarksdale. Espy estimates 14,000 cars will visit the complex.
“We have to make that first step. You have to make yourself more attractive, more competitive. The more we build, the stronger we become. And then, MDOT definitely has to take a look at that,” Espy said, adding that there are now “some substantial projects that will change the lay of the land in Clarksdale.”
Walker said he believes there is a better chance of getting I-69 in Coahoma County rather than a four-lane Highway 6.
“An interstate through here would change things,” Walker said.
Tagert said MDOT spent a significant amount of money on applying for a federal grant towards the I-69 project. But the request was turned down.
“I tend to think our chances then were better than they are now,” Tagert said.
