316 W. Commerce St. | Hernando, Mississippi | 38632 | 662-429-4414 | fax 429-0952 Market Update

Infrastructure Article: Interstate 69 (& 269) and Air Quality

Dan F. Callahan, III
DeSoto County Planning Commission

For many of the citizens of DeSoto County and the Memphis area, Interstate 69 is something new.  And for the mid-South, it is new, a new highway.  But Interstate 69 has been around for many years.  I was driving on it in the early 1990s when I took my eldest daughter to college in south central Michigan.  The most direct way to get there was through Indianapolis, and I-69 was the interstate that went north out of Indianapolis and ended at the Michigan and Canadian border.

To help understand the importance and significance of our piece of I-69, let me provide some background and history of I-69.  I-69 is a 1,600 mile national highway project that will some day connect Mexico to Canada.  It traverses eight states (Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas).  It goes through two of the nations three Rural Empowerment Zones, or impoverished rural areas.  It is the combination of two federally designated High Priority Corridors, Corridor 18 extending from Michigan and Illinois south to Texas and Corridor 20 in Texas from Texarkana to Laredo.  In the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA), Congress designated the I-69 Corridor to connect major cities and enhance economic development.  Then in 1992, the enactment of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) further stimulated trade flows from Mexico to the industrial north/northeast United States as well as trade flows from Canada, and thus raised the emphasis to fully develop I-69 Corridor.  Studies of the movement of commodities, both finished goods and raw materials, showed there is significant demand for this movement to occur along a route within the designated I-69 Corridor.  As the global economy and international trade opportunities expand, direct and continuous connections from Canada and Mexico will play a key role in the health of the American economy.

I-69 today consists of two sections: the main section north of Indianapolis and the short spur off of Interstate 55 between Hernando and Tunica.  The main section travels from Indianapolis through Fort Wayne IN, Lansing MI, Flint MI, and ends at Port Huron MI (the Canadian border).  The main section was built in stages between 1956 and 1992, with the most recent segments opening in central Michigan in the early 1990s.  It is 360 miles in length and consists of 2 Sections of Independent Utility (SIUs), numbers 1 and 27.  The short spur is the one we in DeSoto County are familiar with, and runs from Hwy 61 to I-55 just north of Hernando.

This short spur is the beginning of something much larger, a 1250 mile extension that will traverse seven states from Indiana to Texas.  In 1998, Congress approved the extension of I-69 to the south and west from Indianapolis to the Mexico border.  When complete, it will be only the second interstate to connect Canada and Mexico, I-5 along the west coast being the first.  The main route will include 26 SIUs, of which 24 will be new construction.  At the end of last year, 3 of the SIUs were complete, operational at federal interstate standards, and signed as I-69. These sections are north of Indianapolis and our spur between Hernando and Tunica.  A couple of the sections in Kentucky will use pre-existing highway, but will need to be upgraded when funds become available before being designated I-69.  In northwest Tennessee and the Bolivar and Washington County areas of Mississippi, land acquisition is in progress.   In Arkansas, across the Mississippi River from Greenville, land acquisition and some final design work is being done.  The remainders of the sections within the I-69 Corridor are in the draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) stage. 

For northwest Mississippi and its neighbors to the north in the Memphis / Shelby County area, this is where the action is, at least as it pertains to I-69 and I-269.  Construction work is being done by the Tennessee Department of Transportation (TDOT) to improve and widen the I-69 segment that overlaps I-40 and I-240 through Midtown Memphis and continues south along I-55 to the Mississippi state line.  South of the state line, the Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT) is widening I-55 to the !-69 intersection,  and reconstructing bridges and improving traffic flow at interchanges, in anticipation of its incorporation into the I-69 system. 

In addition to the I-69 routing through Midtown Memphis, this section of the Corridor also includes construction of the I-269 Memphis Outer Loop.  As of September 2006, the piece from Millington to Eads is open to traffic (designated as State Rte 385).  A second piece from Eads to US Highway 72 near Collierville is under construction.  Construction of the third piece from US Hwy 72 through Marshall and DeSoto Counties to the I-69 and I-55 interchange north of Hernando is scheduled to start in 2010, at a cost of $450 million.  Some milestones that have occurred which highlight the progress are the issue of a Record of Decision (ROD) on 29 January of this year, which approved the Final EIS and authorized Tennessee and Mississippi to begin land acquisition and construction of the remaining segments of I-69 and 269.  Following the ROD, Mississippi solicited bids from engineers to complete the final design of the DeSoto and Marshall County segments of I-269.  In late March, four engineering firms sent their survey teams into the county to establish the centerline of the new interstate.  MDOT’s current timeline has Right of Way (ROW) acquisition beginning in late 2007 or early 2008.  Once all required land has been purchased, and funding has been arranged, construction will begin.  In May, the DeSoto County Board of Supervisors voted on an intent to issue $275 million in special obligation bonds to fund construction.

Unlike most of the seven states that I-69 will run through, Mississippi has adopted and embraced an innovative mechanism to enable the state to more quickly build I-69 and 269 without the use of tolls.  This mechanism is called the Highway Enhancements through Local Partnerships (HELP) program and enables a county, such as DeSoto or Marshall, to issue bonds and lend the money to the state in order to expedite major public works projects.  Then, as anticipated federal funds are received, the state reimburses the counties.  This process was used to build I-69 from Hernando to Tunica. 

In conclusion, DeSoto County’s piece of Interstate 69 and 269 is just a small part of a major transportation corridor.  The purpose of this corridor, as defined by the Corridor 18 Steering Committee is “to improve international and interstate trade in accordance with national and state goals; to facilitate economic development in accordance with state, regional and local policies and plans, and; to improve surface transportation consistent with national, state, regional and local needs and with the Congressional designation of the corridor.”  The overall goals for I-69 are to 1) improve international and interstate movement of freight and people, 2) enhance regional and local transportation systems, 3) facilitate economic development and enhance economic growth opportunities domestically and internationally, 4) facilitate connections to intermodal facilities and major ports along the corridor, 5) facilitate the safe and efficient movement of persons and goods, and 6) upgrade existing facilities to be utilized as I-69 within the corridor to design standards mandated for an Interstate Highway. 

U.S. Senator Trent Lott stated “Today, one-quarter of all our international trade is with Canada and Mexico.  The extension of Interstate 69, a roadway 1,800 miles long connecting the industrial centers of the United States, Mexico and Canada, and other similar trade corridors, will be the Erie Canals, Mississippi Rivers and transcontinental railways of the new economic era.  I am committed to the development of I-69.”

A quick note on Air Quality:  We, in DeSoto County, are two months into the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) 2007 ozone monitoring season.  In years past we have been able to maintain an “Attainment” rating, which means we meet Federal Air Emissions Standards.  But our numbers have been gradually rising and “attainment” is not guaranteed in the future.  Weather conditions can significantly affect our numbers, from which direction the wind blows to the effect of high temperatures. We can not do anything about the weather, but there are some things we can do.  They are:

In addition, there will be an Air Quality Workshop at the DeSoto County Civic Center at 1:30 PM on 20 June 2007.  Come and enjoy some refreshments and learn more about what you can do the keep the air clean in DeSoto County.   We will be forming an Ozone Action Workgroup to develop actions that can be taken to reduce emissions of pollutants that cause ozone. 

Previous Story • Next Story

Table of Contents