I found this link when I was looking for information of the NAFTA super highway. I am also posting an article that I found there. These fools just don't have a clue what allowing this monster will do to them and the rest of us.

http://www.i69info.com/


http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbc ... /1002/NEWS

I-69 route through Claiborne, Webster selected
Preferred path includes Bossier, Webster and Claiborne parishes.
February 2, 2006


Related links
Interstate 69 corridor: www.i69arkla.com or www.i69dotd.com.


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By Vickie Welborn
vwelborn@gannett.com

A combination of jubilation and unhappiness greeted Wednesday's announcement of the preferred route for Interstate 69 through Claiborne and Webster. Residents of both parishes for years have been championing their favored paths, spouting the pluses of potential economic development.

In the end, it was economic development along with protection of scenic Bayou Dorcheat and swamplands that were the deciding factors in the selected course.


The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development picked revised Alternative 4 with option 3 as the preferred route for the section of I-69 that will connect El Dorado, Ark., to Haughton. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries Department support the decision.

Under Alternative 4, I-69 heads northeast from Interstate 20 at Haughton into Webster north of Minden and continues into Claiborne just southeast of Leton. From there, the route goes north toward Haynesville, crosses U.S. Highway 79 and continues northeast into Arkansas. This new alignment will be further refined and presented in the Final Environmental Impact Statement, which is expected for public distribution in late 2006.

"We got exactly what we asked for," said Lane Merritt, a Cotton Valley man who two years ago led a petition drive to support a route less detrimental to Bayou Dorcheat.

"It's the best thing for the entire region. "» The natural resources could not be mitigated. And, in my opinion, anyone who didn't put that as a top priority was just plain wrong."

The news was less palatable to David Smith, chief financial officer of Springhill Medical Center. He had hoped to see the route fall closer to north Webster to help grow the area's economy.

Smith blames politics for influencing the decision since the path supposedly was "set in stone to come through Cotton Valley in 2003.

"Oh, well, you win some, you lose some. "» But it won't slow us down a bit in promoting economic development in Springhill."

Ecstatic is the way J.T. Taylor of Homer describes his reaction to the course of I-69. As a member of the I-69 Coalition and president of the Claiborne Chamber of Commerce, he has worked closely on the route selection since 1991, attending meetings throughout the region and in Washington, D.C.

"For the economy of Claiborne Parish, we worked on this particular route," Taylor said. "This is the exact route we wanted."

Claiborne can use all the help it can get, Taylor said. The heavily forested area known for its rolling hills in 1930 boasted of a healthy population of 32,285 people. It was estimated at 18,860 in 2005.

"For us, it means jobs and an improved economy," Taylor said. He also envisions development of a distribution center since I-69, when combined with a planned truck by-pass on state Highway 2, will tie together several major highways.

"We're like a kid with a new toy. We worked so hard and so long."

Most public and community officials' comments following public hearings in May reflect a strong desire to have the new interstate located close to their communities, principally for economic development. The Haughton-to-El Dorado section of I-69 traverses a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Rural Renewal Zone.

The north Louisiana zone includes all of Claiborne and parts of Webster and other parishes. The preferred alternative is closer to the center of the zone than other alternatives and is closest to Minden, the largest population and employment center in the study area.

Alternative 4 crosses Bayou Dorcheat in a narrow area of swamp where Kansas City Southern Railroad spans the bayou. While Bayou Dorcheat is a state scenic stream throughout the region considered for the new interstate alignment, only a small portion of it is navigable by recreation boats through most of the year.

"The proximity of the I-69 route to Minden furthers the state's intention to develop the former Louisiana Army Ammunition facility into a multiuse premier industrial/commercial business park offering significant infrastructure capacity that will be attractive to targeted business and industry," state Economic Development Secretary Michael J. Olivier says in a prepared statement.
©The Times
February 2, 2006