Five road projects across the Golden Triangle area could help keep current companies and attract more potential businesses, Golden Triangle Development LINK CEO Joe Max Higgins said at a breakfast event with local lawmakers Monday morning.
The projects are estimated to cost a total of $12.3 million, with the two most expensive projects — accounting for $8.4 million — located in Lowndes County. The LINK hosted state legislators representing Golden Triangle districts at East Mississippi Community College’s Communiversity to present infrastructure needs for industrial development and publicly lobby for any state funds that might be available to help get them done.
Having the breakfast early in this year’s legislative session was critical, Higgins said.
“This year, we decided to be proactive,” he said. “Let’s go ahead and arm our legislators with it so when they go down there (to Jackson) they got it in their back pocket.”
An estimated $5.3 million is needed to provide a second access road to International Paper’s plant in Columbus, Higgins said. The company borders the railway on the north, and the plant’s only entrance and exit would be blocked when a train derails or simply parks on the tracks for hours, said Kellum Kim, communications manager of International Paper.
“We’ve had probably four derailments and blocks (within the last year),” Kim said. “The last derailment was four hours.”
The blocks impact employees who are eager to go home to their families after working 12-hour shifts at the plant, Kim said. Sometimes, she said, people had no choice but to bypass the blockage by driving through the neighboring properties.
David Phillips, mill manager at International Paper, said the company also needs an alternative road for safety concerns.
“If somebody gets hurt,” Phillips said, “you can’t get an ambulance in there.”
The proposed 17-month project would extend the existing Manufacturers Drive for 1.2 miles and connect it with Artesia Road to the north. The new two-lane road would loop around the wastewater treatment plant to the east of the company and merge with Bent Oak Road. The two entryways should be far enough apart to prevent a blockage to both, Higgins said.
The other project in Lowndes County would finish paving the remaining 8,400 feet of Charleigh Ford Jr. Drive, which would connect the south end of the road with Artesia Road. The improvement project of the entire gravel road has been receiving funding from different sources, Higgins said, but the paving of the section requires another $3.1 million.
“We’ve been cobbling money together for years on Charleigh Ford (Drive),” Higgins said. “We have just nickeled and dimed and begged and pleaded to get money for the rest of it.”
In 2018, Lowndes County received $1 million from the BP oil spill settlement fund allocated by the state to extend Charleigh Ford Drive from Mims Road to Artesia Road. The money was used to widen and build the base of the extension, Higgins said. Most recently, the county also issued almost $1.3 million in bonds in May to help pay for the paving and other improvements of the road.
The extension and pavement of the last section of the road would close the loop around the 1,144-acre Infinity Megasite, the third LINK-developed megasite in Lowndes County.
The entire road would be a two-lane road that connects Artesia Road and Airport Road, but could be expanded to four lanes in the future, Higgins said. Improving road conditions and putting in place public infrastructure ahead of time would make the site more attractive to businesses looking for potential locations across the country, Higgins said.
“We feel like we can be more competitive if we can get those things built upfront,” Higgins said. “They can … increase our chances of being picked.”
Among other proposed projects Higgins addressed is the improvement of Sudduth Road in Starkville near the developing North Star Industrial Park at Highways 389 and 82.
“It’s in absolutely atrocious shape,” Higgins said.
The estimated $1.9-million project would reconstruct more than 4,000 feet of the two-lane road and offer a second route in and out of the industrial park, which has already attracted its first tenant, Garan Manufacturing, Higgins said. The park could also be the site of a $1 billion investment as part of a $3-billion project in the Golden Triangle, he said last week.
Projects in Clay County include a $258,000 project that would turn the Eshman Avenue ramp onto Yokohama Boulevard into a two-way road to meet the needs of drivers going both ways. Another $1.7 million water main extension along Yokohama Boulevard would connect the pipeline on Highway 45 with the one on Eshman Avenue.
Legislators respond
Rep. Kabir Karriem (D-Columbus) said he is hopeful in securing the funding for projects and would advocate for funding for economic development projects.
“I’m very optimistic with the revenue the state has gathered and the tight-knit delegation that we do have…,” Karriem said. “We want to make projects in the Golden Triangle very successful.”
Rep. Cheikh Taylor (D-Starkville) said state funding could come from the BP settlement funds or revenue from the sale of lottery tickets. The state Legislature passed a bill in 2018 that allowed an annual lottery proceeds of up to $80 million to fund for roads and bridges.
Rep. Gary Chism (R-Columbus) told The Dispatch he will introduce a bill in the House Ways and Means Committee that would request for the full amount of funding for all five projects, and the money might come from state-issued bond packages. However, he said, getting the full funding from the state Legislature may be challenging.
“I feel like that maybe a quarter of a million for each site might be the optimum amount,” Chism said.
Sen. Chuck Younger (R-Columbus), said he hopes lawmakers from the Golden Triangle area can work together and propose the funding for all five projects as a package. Younger also said he’s always supported a fuel tax increase, and the tax revenue could help more comprehensively repair roads and highways statewide.
“We are the third lowest on fuel tax in the state,” Younger said. “I’m a Republican, I know Republicans aren’t supposed to be for taxes, but it’s the fairest way to pay for it. … I think I’ve been getting a little bit bald back here because my head hits the damn roof in my truck when I’m going to Jackson every time when I’m on (Highway) 25.”
Sen. Angela Turner-Ford (D-West Point) and Rep. Dana McLean (R-Columbus) both also attended the breakfast.
Yue Stella Yu was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 43 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
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