Jackson Clarion-Ledger
Interstate project could connect rural MS to cities across the South
By Bea Anhuci
- The planned Interstate 14 will span over 1,300 miles from Georgia to Texas, connecting military bases and manufacturing hubs.
- Proponents say the new highway will boost rural economies and provide redundant routes during emergencies.
- Construction has been slow, with only 25 miles completed in Texas since the project was first authorized.
- A lack of dedicated federal funding means states will likely need to contribute significant funds to complete the project.
Five years ago, a bipartisan coalition championed the "Forts to Ports Route" out of the U.S. Senate and into law. An interstate was included in a sweeping transportation bill, and its proponents boasted that it would connect rural communities to resources that would help them thrive.
The highway will span from Augusta, Georgia, to Odessa, Texas. It'll connect Meridian, Laurel and Natchez in Mississippi, with a branch stretching down to Gulfport.
The plan is for Interstate 14 to be more than 1,300 miles long. The first portion, 25 miles in central Texas, was authorized in 2015 and completed two years later. Since then, there has been no more construction.
Why does the new highway matter?
The "Forts and Ports Route," as the interstate was dubbed in legislation, will primarily serve to connect manufacturing hubs with military installations across the southeast. The route passes alongside several military bases, including the Mississippi Air National Guard base in Meridian, Hattiesburg's Camp Shelby Joint Forces Training Center and the Coast Guard Station in Gulfport.
The bipartisan amendment intended to fast-track the highway's construction was introduced with support from Senators Roger Wicker and Cindy Hyde-Smith, although Hyde-Smith voted against the passage of the larger transportation bill. Both have pushed infrastructure improvements during their tenure in Congress, and Wicker has leveraged his position as chair of the Armed Services Committee to bring military manufacturers to Mississippi's coast.
Some of the interstate's planned route follows closely along existing highways. In part, according to a Sept. 14 release from the Transportation Construction Coalition, this redundancy will help "move personnel, heavy equipment, and supplies during deployments, natural disasters, and national emergencies."
If an existing highway, like I-59 connecting Meridian to Laurel, becomes impassable after a hurricane, I-14 would join the cities along a different path to keep people moving.
The new paths would also potentially bring business opportunities to rural towns that were previously isolated, said Priscilla Lee. She works with Rural South Connect, a nonprofit that attracts industry to small towns.
"Infrastructure is the No. 1 thing that gets a company from unsure about moving into a small town to completely sold," Lee said. "Nobody wants to drive from the factory to the stores on unpaved, dirt roads that get rained out half the time. If we can show them that there's a brand-new highway that makes it super easy to get from point A to point B, that's a huge plus in the pitch."
Some towns are too small to justify bringing an entire plant, Lee acknowledged, but certain amenities can provide modest boosts to their local economies.
"Maybe you don't work in this little town of 300 people, but on your way up to work, you stop there because they have a gas station and a donut shop," she said. "Without a highway with a signpost telling you that, you would never find your way there. Those pass-throughs get business from the interstate that their neighbors further away don't."
Why is it taking so long to build?
Around 25 miles of construction in 10 years may sound alarming, said retired civil engineer Michael Clay, but he said it wasn't surprising. Clay spent more than 30 years planning road and bridge construction throughout the southeast.
"Breaking news: the government moves slowly," Clay said. "I don't think anyone's shocked that they've only built about 25 miles of this highway since they got permission a decade ago. But it doesn't seem like they're necessarily dropping the ball on this one."
Highway regulations have changed significantly over the years, he said, and safety standards have been raised as roadway research has evolved. The fact that it takes longer to build a safer interstate, Clay said, is a "very, very good thing that people should be happy about."
"We're not in the 1950s anymore when we built 41,000 miles of interstate in 20 years," he said. "That's hugely impressive, but a lot of them weren't built to the standards that we have now, both for safety and quality. It's better to spend a little more time and money building now than have to go back every five years for repairs."
Also unlike the inaugural highway legislation in 1956, Clay said, the 2021 bill that authorized I-14 didn't earmark any federal funding for the project. It didn't shut the door on future federal dollars, but he said states would likely have to put up "a good chunk of change themselves" to get the ball rolling.
"Especially not, you're looking at a federal government that prides itself on cutting, not increasing, payments to states," Clay said. "I can't see a situation that they put up billions or trillions of dollars for this road without matches from the states."
That raises a major question in Mississippi. While infrastructure projects are among the least partisan measures in the state legislature, the state is navigating the intersection of increased costs and decreased revenue as it phases out its income tax. The desire may exist to fund the highway, but the money may not.