UPDATE ON U. S. HIGHWAY 84: THE EL CAMINO CORRIDOR
This
is a good news, bad news story. The good news is that the segment of
U.S. Highway 84 from Evergreen to Monroeville is included in the
State of Alabama Developmental Highway Plan for 2006. The bad news
is what it is going to take to bring the project to completion.
Traffic Counts
The segment of U.S. Highway 84 from Evergreen to Monroeville, a
distance of some 25 miles, is one of the heaviest traveled legs of
U.S. Highway 84. Looking at our area industry, it is easy to see
why. Alabama River Pulp Company alone brings in 600 to 900 trucks a
day on U.S. 84, according to comments made by Pete Black, Mill
Manager, in a recent meeting. This does not even include trucks for
Vanity Fair Intimates, which has two major distribution centers in
Monroeville; Medline, which has a major cutting/sewing facility in
Monroe County; trucks for two major trucking companies Billy Barnes
Enterprises and Hornady Truck Lines; Georgia Pacific; Harrigan
Lumber Company; Temple; Gate; Rocky Creek Lumber, just off U.S. 84
at Mexia Crossings; Standard Furniture; etc. It does not include
truck traffic for all of our major retailers, such as Wal-Mart, Winn
Dixie, Food World, Dollar General, and others. When you add up all
this truck traffic, it is a miracle that this major thoroughfare is
not totally gridlocked.
The Highway Plan: Support Existing Industries
Apparently, the Alabama Department of Transportation is addressing
this in its 2006 Highway Plan. As our Probate Judge and County
Commission President Otha Lee Biggs pointed out in a recent meeting
with the Alabama Department of Transportation, the state and the
Department of Transportation should "Look to southwest Alabama to
help our development and assist our industries." Biggs questioned
why the state has not prioritized the U.S. 84 project. For Monroe
County, two projects are included in the latest three year plan:
U.S. 84, a corridor study from Monroeville to I-65 at Evergreen,
totaling $250,000; and a project to widen State Highway 21 at
Falkenberry Hill, totaling $1,125,000. As Biggs pointed out, the
latter project was committed by Governor Hunt in 1985 for the Alabama
Pine Pulp Mill project.
According to Jerry Holt, "Environmental problems have held up this
project." It is due to the efforts of Congressman Jo Bonner that the
$250,000 has been earmarked for the U.S. 84 Corridor Study in Monroe
County.
More regarding U.S. 84 - The Time Line
The 84 Corridor Study in Monroe County, budgeted for 2006, could
take three years. Following the study, the next stage is design,
which could take three to five years, followed by right-of-way
acquisition, which could take as much as 2 to 3 years. Add up all
these figures and you are looking at, optimistically, ten more years
just to get to the stage where the four laning is in process.
However, it is more critical than ever to keep the pressure on our
state government to continue this project!
Funding
Additional issues to consider: Funding. According to recent
estimates by the Alabama Department of Transportation, it will take
$90 million to complete U.S. 84 from Evergreen to Monroeville. The
cost of existing projects on U.S 84 is $200 million. The total
funding necessary to complete U.S. 84 in Alabama is $430 million.
However the final project will open up a major segment of rural
Alabama to the world. It is necessary that this project come off the
back-burner, and become a high priority for the State of Alabama.
History and Significance
The project to four lane U.S. 84 in Alabama has national
significance. Alabama is part of a five state effort to four lane
all 1.729 miles of U.S. 84, from Brunswick, Georgia, all the way to
El Paso, Texas. This is a major east-west transportation route with
considerable historical significance. Brunswick, Georgia, was
designated by President George Washington as one of the five
original ports of entry into the United States, and today is a
bustling port. El Paso, Texas, is the gateway to Mexico, and the
Mexican portion of El Camino Real. Under NAFTA, this has
considerable significance, as more goods from Mexico enter the
United States at El Paso, and continue across country. U.S. 84 is a
major east-west transportation corridor that can relieve heavy
traffic off 1-10 and 1-20. This is also a major farm to market route
that slices through rural America. It originally served as a major
emigration route from the east coast to what is now Texas.
The El Camino Corridor
Monroe County is part of a five state effort to four lane all of
U.S. Highway 84. The President of the Five State "El Camino
Corridor" is Dr. Leland Scoggins, head of Red River Development
Corporation in Natchitoches, Louisiana. The entire five state
corridor is eligible for federal funding, since it has been accepted
into the National Highway System for each state, and the Federal
Highway Administration. The five state "El Camino Corridor" Group
will come together for its annual meeting in June 2004 in Natchez,
Mississippi, the halfway point of the highway in the United States.
Anyone with an interest in promoting this project is urged to
attend.
The Monroeville Area Chamber of Commerce is currently spearheading
an effort to name U.S. Highway 84 in Alabama. "The El Camino
Corridor," as it has been so designated in the states of
Mississippi, Louisiana and Georgia. (This is being introduced in the
Texas Legislature, also). Uniform signage across the five state
corridor has been designated a priority of the five state El Camino
Corridor Commission. To this end, a resolution has been drafted by
the Chamber of Commerce to name the historic corridor in Alabama,
and to have the Alabama Department of Transportation erect the
uniform signage at the entrances of all towns on the highway in
Alabama. According to George Ray, Director of Planning at the
Alabama Department of Transportation, and a great supporter of the
Five State El Camino Commission, "this is critical, for both tourism
and economic development as a result of NAFTA." Greg Albritton,
Representative for Monroe County in the Alabama House, has sent the
resolution to the Legislative Reference Service, and it will be
introduced in the February session of the Alabama Legislature. Other
partners in this project are Powell Brewton, a member of the Five
State Commission from Dothan, at the east end of U.S. 84, and Kerry
Reid from Clarke County, who has recently been appointed as a Board
Member on the Five State El Camino Commission. Powell Brewton has
been on the El Camino Commission since its inception in 1992.
Please continue to keep
this project in the forefront with Monroe County's state and federal
legislators. Tom Lomenick, First Vice President of the Chamber of Commerce,
continues to have the U.S. 84 project as one of his major areas of emphasis, and
urges all Monroeville businesses to stay involved.
