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DELTA OFFICIALS TALKING TRANSPORT

By Jason Wiest/ARKANSAS NEWS BUREAU
Friday, March 28, 2008 11:15 PM CDT

Taking a red marker to an Arkansas map, Delta community leaders at Pine Bluff on Friday crafted a wish list of transportation projects they deemed essential to economic prosperity for representatives of the Delta Regional Authority.

With the suggestions, which the DRA is collecting in a series of meetings throughout the 240 counties and parishes included in the eight-state Delta region, the authority will craft a 20-year multimodal transportation plan to be submitted to Congress in July.

“We want to be included,” said Jerre George, a senior planner at the Southeast Arkansas Regional Planning Commission in Pine Bluff.

George came prepared with a document detailing plans for an intermodal facility on an undeveloped 500-acre site at Grider Field that the city owns.

The plan calls for developing the site and widening two roads to link the site to rail and U.S. 65, which would cost about $10 million, George said.

Being included in the DRA plan could potentially link the site to similar facilities and increase its visibility to manufacturers and transportation providers that might want to locate in Pine Bluff because of the proposed facility as well as the city’s central location, which is conducive to overnight shipping to many destinations, she said.

“I think it’s a great idea,” said Johnnie Bolin, executive director of the Arkansas Good Roads Transportation Council.

Because of high fuel prices and long lines for trucks waiting to transfer freight at similar existing facilities, new intermodal stops in Arkansas could lure business, he said.

Bolin said he would like to see DRA funds benefit airports around the state.

“Airports are becoming the norm to get from point A to point B,” Bolin said.

Key roads in Arkansas could serve as connector routes and make shipping in all directions faster and easier, he said.

Toby Stephens, executive director of the Magnolia Economic Development Corp., advocated for the widening of U.S. 82 to four lanes from Greenville, Miss., to Texarkana.

The highway would intersect with the proposed route of Interstate 69 and could create a center of economic activity and help ship goods across the state, he said.

Chris Masingill, a DRA board member designated by Gov. Mike Beebe, agreed.

“Transportation is critical for a competitive advantage, and it’s key for economic development,” Masingill said. “It doesn’t solve all of our problems, but this is the process that will help us become stronger ... and we do not want to be left out.”

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