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SIGNING BRINGS I-69 STEP CLOSER

By Amy Riggin/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Thursday, June 24, 2004 8:05 AM CDT

ARKANSAS CITY -- More than 100 people gathered in the Courthouse Annex in Desha County on Wednesday to witness the signing of the record of decision (ROD) officially designating the Great River Bridge as the Interstate 69 crossing into Arkansas.

In a ceremony officiated by Desha County Judge Mark McElroy, those involved in the last 20 years of planning in both Arkansas and Mississippi watched as Sandra Otto, the Federal Highway Administration's division administrator for Arkansas, signed the ROD.

An ROD is a document signifying the federal agency approves the proposed bridge's location.

And, the signing off of the document signifies that the Great River Bridge has officially been designated at part of the I-69 corridor.

The Desha County location would connect U.S. 1 near Benoit, Miss., to U.S. 65 near McGehee.

"I usually just sign these (RODs) in my office," Otto said. "It is really great to see how important this project is to you."

Otto explained that the benefit of any project must outweigh its impact on the environment and that the concept of the Great River Bridge, initially designed as a two-lane bridge to carry only a few thousand vehicles a day, changed when it began to be examined as the I-69 crossing.

"It opens the way to bring greater economic benefits to this area," she said.

And while it "seems like it's taken a long time," the process for signing this particular ROD, she said, was actually two years faster than the national average. She credited the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department's staff for that faster pace.

After Otto signed, McElroy invited all of those from both Arkansas and Mississippi who had traveled to Washington, D.C. on numerous occasions seeking support and funding for the project -- a number of public officials, including mayors, former mayors, county employees, chamber of commerce representatives, transportation department officials and more -- to render their signatures as well.

And despite the threat of rain, about half of them followed McElroy in a convoy to the McCallie Access -- fending off mud and fire ants on the muddy banks of the Mississippi River -- to a site about a mile north of where the actual crossing is planned north of Arkansas City.

Charlotte Schexnayder of Dumas, a former state representative who was involved from the start in 1984, and several others credited the late Charles Dean of Mississippi with having the original concept and his "bold leadership."

"There have been so many valleys and mountains to climb," she said. "This truly is a remarkable achievement."

Dean died in November 1998 and Great River Bridge Association leaders have been actively pursuing the project in his memory, according to Schexnayder, and both state legislatures have passed legislation to name the bridge in his honor.

Many of Dean's family members were present Thursday, including his widow, Martha Cile Dean, and daughter, T.C. Rogers, who said her dad was the longtime city engineer for Cleveland, Miss.

"They used to say (the Great River Bridge) was 'Dean's Dream,' " she said.

After returning from the river to a buffet lunch at a local church, his widow said the ceremony was "really perfect."

"It is so nice to see all of the people who worked on it from the beginning," Dean said.

She said not all of her 13 grandchildren were able to attend Wednesday.

"But maybe they'll see the construction of the bridge," she said.

The concept for the proposed I-69 -- a 2,000-mile corridor to run from Canada to Mexico -- was developed in the mid-1990s. Because of the studies already completed on the Great River Bridge it was recommended for the crossing.

The new design is for a four-lane bridge with a predicted 23,000 to 24,000 vehicles crossings daily.

McElroy lauded the cooperation between the two states.

"The only thing between us was a river," he said.

Dan Flowers, AHTD director, spoke during the ceremony and recognized other department officials present: former Arkansas Highway Commission chairman John Lipton of Warren, current Chairman J.W. "Buddy" Benafield and commissioners Jonathan Barnett and Carl Rosenbaum.

"Here we are today at a very significant milestone," Flowers said. "(The signing) launches us into another stage of project development."

Flowers said it was 1993 when the plan for I-69 was first detected on the "radar scope" of AHTD, which he said added an "infusion of energy" into the concept of the Great River Bridge that began simply as a way "to connect two counties" (Bolivar, Miss., and Desha).

"This is a very significant key to the I-69 crossing," he said, adding that the entire corridor will eventually "connect three countries."

In Flowers' words, Wednesday's signing basically means "You're good to go if you've got the money to build the bridge."

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