TDOT holds meetings on I-69 route

MEMPHIS (AP) — A proposed interstate linking Canada to Mexico would displace 73 to 117 families and destroy 54 to 122 acres of wetland as it passes through and around Memphis, according to a new study.

State transportation officials were scheduled to hold the first of five public hearings on the project this week in the Memphis area.

The 1,800-mile road is mandated by the federal government as part of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

It would enter Tennessee in Obion County and, paralleling U.S. 51, continue through Dyersburg, Ripley, Covington and Millington.

At Millington, the interstate would split into I-69, which will run near the Mississippi river, and Interstate 269, a bypass to the east. The two segments would reconnect at Hernando, Miss.

“Construction of the NAFTA Corridor will add an important north-south continental connection through West Tennessee,” said Tennessee Department of Transportation Commissioner Jerry Nicely. “It will create an environment that will enable the western region of our state to play a more significant role in the global marketplace.”

A decision on which routes to build in the Memphis area should be made by this fall, said TDOT spokesman Pamela Marshall.

The department is not estimating when construction would start because of uncertainty over funding, she said.

The interestate would force the relocation of 15 families at a mobile home park in Frayser and seven families at a mobile home park on Mississippi 178. It also would displace 11 small businesses.
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Information from: The Commercial Appeal, http://www.thecommercialappeal.com