New Interstate through Western NC, Northeastern GA???

[halibut15]

I couldn't help but be agnered by the article in my local newspaper this weekend (sorry, no link to the story) about two GA lawmakers interested in making two new interstates, one running east/west across south GA, and the other starting in Knoxville, heading south and, according to their map, skirting the Western side of the Smokies, crossing the AT somewhere in Western NC, slashing through Northeastern GA (possibly crossing the AT again), and running parallel to the Savannah River down to Savannah, GA. Their purpose for the new highways was to "spur growth" in undeveloped areas. Personally, I don't think we new much new growth in the National Forest areas of the AT, Western NC, Eastern TN, and North GA. Just imagine the areas of land that will need to be cleared for such a project...it scares me.

[Jaybird]

here's the link to the article:



http://www.cegltd.com/story.asp?story=4787



yea, i agree...this would be the pits!

[TDale]

I really see no problem with the middle georgia road, that one's needed. But Knoxville to Savannah? That just makes no sense.

[The Solemates]

I really see no problem with the middle georgia road, that one's needed. But Knoxville to Savannah? That just makes no sense.

No roads are needed. If you cant get to point A to point B using the current existing roads then something is wrong. Theres more roads in the East than there needs to be already.

[Rain Man]

.... Their purpose for the new highways was to "spur growth" in undeveloped areas. Personally, I don't think we need much new growth in the National Forest areas of the AT, Western NC, Eastern TN, and North GA. Just imagine the areas of land that will need to be cleared for such a project...it scares me.

Yes, you will notice that the news article was on the "Construction Equipment" dot-com web site!! Here in Tennessee we have and have had lots of criminal activity with road construction companies fixing bids and being in bed with the politicians shuffling public monies back-and-forth between greased pockets. (how's that for some mixed, confused metaphor?!)

Anyway, this just seems like more of what I call a "Chamber of Commerce" mentality. "Growth is good because growth is Godly" or some such "manifest destiny" philosopy bull crap.

Let's hope this massive shift of public funds from the public to the chamber of commerce road-building types never gets off the ground, if it's going to be spearheaded by such self-centered mentalites.
:(
Rain Man

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[orangebug]

The south GA road is slated to endanger ancient Indian mounds. The Savannah River road is simply a competitor to I-26 out of Charleston harbor, to attempt to give more transport for Savannah without hurting Atlanta's traffic worse.

I expect we will see the Indian mounds dug up and paved over.

[Mags]

"Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of cancer cells" --Ed Abbey

Throw in some possibly crooked politicians and contractors and it sounds like pork barrel politics...

[Goon]

If they are typical politicians, they've bought cheap land along the path of the highway they are proposing.

[halibut15]

Here's a link with a map everybody.

http://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/lofiversion/index.php/t5305.html

[Rocks 'n Roots]

Gee, I wonder what MacKaye was trying to prevent?



I think it's clear enough that the government (as represented by these sprawl-corrupted politicians) is in a war against environmentalism. Or this could be a diversion in order to drain resources and prevent protection elsewhere. Muir's hell is going to be crowded...

[Skyline]

One has to wonder if this is one of the things that "local" Forest Service officials, together with local and state politicians, will have the last word on now that Shrub has or will soon wipe out most of the Clinton-era USFS protections?

Just another example of Shrub spending all that political capital he "earned" with his "mandate?"

[The Solemates]

Here's a link with a map everybody.

http://www.urbanplanet.org/forums/lofiversion/index.php/t5305.html

this made me vomit.

[Goon]

Just another example of Shrub spending all that political capital he "earned" with his "mandate?"
If you read the posted link, the congressmen who are proposing the highways are a good mix of democrats and republicans. Both sides are to blame.

[Rain Man]

.... Both sides are to blame.

Er,... both parties is not the same as both sides, to me.
:eek:
Rain Man

.

[steve hiker]

This is pure pork. Look at proposed Interstate 14. Like we really, REALLY need an interstate to Natchez, MS.

[Tim Rich]

This is pure pork. Look at proposed Interstate 14. Like we really, REALLY need an interstate to Natchez, MS.

Actually, I-85 wasn't supposed to stop in Montgomery, AL, it was to continue west in the US 80 corridor through Selma, AL to Meridian to link up at the I-20/59 split. That section was blocked, and the military based closed in Selma, as punishment for the transgressions of the civil rights era. It's unfortunate that such action punished the guilty and the innocent alike, as the economy of that section of the black belt has been in steady decline. If I-14 has a chance to succeed, it'll follow the 80 corridor west of Montgomery and terminate in Meridian. If they're looking to divert truck traffic away from the Atlanta I-75 corridor, they need to emphasize the I-26 corridor that is still fairly new below tricities, TN and the existing 40/26 corridor through the mountains. A portion of proposed I-3 that would connect 26/85 over to 95 makes some sense to provide another viable Florida trucking route, but I don't think another punch through the Smokies will happen.

[smokymtnsteve]

"Growth for the sake of growth is the ideology of cancer cells" --Ed Abbey

Throw in some possibly crooked politicians and contractors and it sounds like pork barrel politics...

THANKS BE TO ABBEY!

;)

[Newb]

The section of west Alabama that the proposed interstate would cross is one of the last wild areas east of the Mississippi that the Red Wolf still inhabits. That and a few coastal islands in South Carolina. On one section of the Tombigbee (sp?) waterway you can go 50 miles without seeing any evidence of human development. I suppose it is all gonna be destroyed now.

[halibut15]

this made me vomit.
Couldn't have said it better myself.

[steve hiker]

What a load of political bullcrap. These two roads to nowhere are pure pork, and you know it.


OINK OINK OINK OINK OINK OINK OINK OINK OINK OINK OINK OINK OINK OINK OINK OINK OINK OINK OINK OINK OINK OINK OINK OINK OINK OINK OINK OINK OINK OINK OINK OINK OINK OINK OINK

[Tim Rich]

What a load of political bullcrap. These two roads to nowhere are pure pork, and you know it.

LOL, porky. If you wish to quote me, do so accurately. Had you read, instead of altered, my post you'd see that all I said that was that I-14 should folllow the original 85 corridor from Montgomery to Meridian. I also said that IF they're trying to divert truck traffic around Atlanta they should use the 26 corridor that's still being developed, and only add the 3 corridor as a connector over to 95.

[Mother Nature]

I have been waiting for a few days to comment. :datz Every time this issue surfaces my blood pressure goes up. My husband and I retired from Atlanta and moved closer to the two sections of the AT near Hiawassee that we maintain for GATC.

We currently live in a cabin on a dirt road in the middle of no-where. Peaceful and very quiet. This "proposed" interstate would be routed less than 3 miles from my front door. I can't imagine the disaster to the AT and the mountains near Hiawassee. So gorgeous and so wild. Hummmm. It is designated a wilderness for goodness sake.

We can only hope it stays a "pipe" dream and the dreamers start smoking something else in their pipe and this plan never gets off the ground.

Mother Nature

[zephyr1034]

I suppose it is all gonna be destroyed now.[/QUOTE]================================================== ===========
Not to be rude, Newb, but that's a defeatist attitude. If Martin Luther King had felt that way about civil rights, we'd still be seeing "No Colored" signs all over the South.

In the last fifty years, many highway projects have been stopped by citizen action. I could name a half dozen in Washington DC (where I grew up), alone. In the early 1990s, a huge relocation of US Route 58 was planned to split the Mount Rogers NRA in two and wipe out a mile of the AT. That one was stopped.

The North Shore Road is bad enough, but in the sixties, there was a plan to build a second transmountain road across the GSMNP. A man by the name of Harvey Broome was instrumental in blocking that project; today the Knoxville chapter of the Sierra Club is named for him.

The same week I graduated from high school in 1966, I had my first letter to the editor published in the Washington Post. It expressed my opposition to a local bridge project that would have devastated parkland. My father, a classic defeatist, told me "Why don't you just stay out of it?" The bridge was never built, by the way, and I'd like to think that my letter helped acheive that goal in a small way.

Of course, we've lost some battles too; the Cherohala Skyway comes to mind.

The article in the Atlanta Consitution about the proposed interstates states that Georgia's Representatives and Senators have introduced legislation to get the federal DOT to study these projects. The members of Whiteblaze who are Georgia residents should write to their Senators and Representative and tell them that the enviornment must be protected when these projects are considered. Members residing in other states should write to their own Senators and Representative.

A postal letter has the most impact when contacting a member of Congress. If you have an internet connection, you probably have a word processor. I remember when writing two Senators plus the Representative involved typing out three separate letters. Now you just write one, and change the heading and salutation for the other two. There's no excuse not to.

Tom Hoffman
Pearisburg VA

[halibut15]

We currently live in a cabin on a dirt road in the middle of no-where. Peaceful and very quiet. This "proposed" interstate would be routed less than 3 miles from my front door. I can't imagine the disaster to the AT and the mountains near Hiawassee. So gorgeous and so wild. Hummmm. It is designated a wilderness for goodness sake.


I agree Mother Nature; it would be a total disaster. I'm up in the Hiawassee area a lot hiking, biking, and just plain enjoying the outdoors, and an interstate here would devastate the area. Sure it would make travel faster, but people already fly on US 76 (where I presume I-3 would be routed) at near-interstate speeds, so just destroying more land would serve no true purpose. The wilderness in this area is some of the last true wilderness in Georgia (i.e Tray Mountain and the Southern Nantahala Wildernesses), with some vast areas of no trails whatsoever. In most cases the AT is the only trail in the wilderness, with miles upon miles of truly wild land on either side. (According to the GA Conservancy's guide, some of the land here is "not well known at all".) Just imagine the noise pollution, if nothing else, that the project would cause.
Amen to the writing senators and representatives also. I plan to do so, and I believe that they should see what damage this plan could cause, even if travel would supposedly be made faster. People should just relax and enjoy the mountains, not fly through them at breakneck speeds. The roads are there already, in most cases 4-laned, so why not just stick with them???

[Rain Man]

... The roads are there already, in most cases 4-laned, so why not just stick with them???

Because there would be no vast amounts of new money for the road builders involved, and thus no political donations to the politicians.
:mad:
Rain Man

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[halibut15]

Because there would be no vast amounts of new money for the road builders involved, and thus no political donations to the politicians.
:mad:
Rain Man

.
I hear ya, Rain Man. Imagine what crossing a 4-laned interstate at Dicks Creek Gap would be like....I feel like I'm putting my life on the line doing it now with only 2 lanes!:eek:

[hikerjohnd]

OK - Don't rip me to shreds... but better access to the Savannah port is needed. The deepening of the port to allow larger ships (a project in motion) is going to necessitate more infrastructure to get the goods to market. In our consumer economy, we demand lower prices and more goods. Who is going to pay more for items because the cost of getting those goods to market has increased? The bargain hunters on this website surely are not.

Having said that (and raised the dander of more than one reader) the proposed highways are NOT the answer. They are not opening access to market hubs (Atlanta being the largest hub not directly connected to Savannah, Jacksonville & Charlotte are two other major hubs). I would rather see the funding for interstates used to improve existing roads.

[Tim Rich]

OK - Don't rip me to shreds... but better access to the Savannah port is needed. The deepening of the port to allow larger ships (a project in motion) is going to necessitate more infrastructure to get the goods to market. In our consumer economy, we demand lower prices and more goods. Who is going to pay more for items because the cost of getting those goods to market has increased? The bargain hunters on this website surely are not.

Having said that (and raised the dander of more than one reader) the proposed highways are NOT the answer. They are not opening access to market hubs (Atlanta being the largest hub not directly connected to Savannah, Jacksonville & Charlotte are two other major hubs). I would rather see the funding for interstates used to improve existing roads.

Good point. Another interesting aspect of increased fuel costs (and economic growth) is that rail is now a growth industry, and they are beginning to have far greater cooperative arrangements with trucking companies than before.

[halibut15]

OK - Don't rip me to shreds... but better access to the Savannah port is needed. The deepening of the port to allow larger ships (a project in motion) is going to necessitate more infrastructure to get the goods to market. In our consumer economy, we demand lower prices and more goods. Who is going to pay more for items because the cost of getting those goods to market has increased? The bargain hunters on this website surely are not.

Having said that (and raised the dander of more than one reader) the proposed highways are NOT the answer. They are not opening access to market hubs (Atlanta being the largest hub not directly connected to Savannah, Jacksonville & Charlotte are two other major hubs). I would rather see the funding for interstates used to improve existing roads.
I'm with you there, hikerjohn. Getting from ATL to Savannah by interstate is like torture now, so some better access is definitely needed. My big problem is how between Savannah and Knoxville, basically no large cities exist. Sure, the whole idea is to spur growth in these areas, but plan is to cut through towns like Clarkesville, Helen, Hiawassee, Toccoa, Elberton, and on and on....These towns rely on their small size and atmosphere for thie tourism, not on the truck stop and rampant fast food restaurants that would be brought by an interstate slicing through town, which in the case of Helen, would eradicate the town for all intents and purposes. Why not make access to Savannah from Atlanta or another larger area easier, since ATL is a hub of interstates branching to all points......Oh yeah, my earlier 4-laned Dicks Creek Gap was wrong, the plan is to take the route over UNICOI Gap, not Dicks Creek. What nonsense is that?? Anyone who knows Unicoi Gap can see how ridiculous this would be. That road is a scenic byway in the first place...

Check out the link from earlier to get this route info:

http://www.interstate-guide.com

[Tha Wookie]

Commuter trains are the answer. Injecting cancer into the heart of the Georgia Mountains is the last thing we need. We have already lost so much ground. When will it end?

Do we really want to become Europe?

Stand up and email and call your senators!