Interstate highways have a number of benefits to the regions and communities they impact. Six of the core benefits are summarized below and each provides a justification for each new suggested Interstate project. The six justifications are outlined as follows:
Homeland SecurityLarge military installations require access to excellent transportation just as civilian population centers. Yet military installations simultaneously have a need for capabilities to restrict access to certain areas. Further, we can see now that there may be a time in the future when military bases may need to completely quarantine the entire base. In places like Fort Benning, Georgia, where a major highway connects the base with regional population areas, the same major highways are primary civilian transportation routes connecting agriculture, tourism and manufacturing regions in the south with population centers to the north. In response to new security concerns, Fort Benning has recently begun installing checkpoints and limiting access to the military base off of the major thoroughfares. In the event Fort Benning needed to completely secure the base's perimeter, the Florida panhandle, and rural areas in south Georgia and Alabama would need to be re-routed around the base and place an immense strain on secondary highways and local roads placing drivers and local populations in danger for an uncertain period. The economies of the communities around such bases would also suffer if the military needed to secure the bases.
Connectivity to Population CentersCities and towns in the south have experienced phenomenal growth due to shifting population trends. There are a few metropolitan areas now that are not served by the Interstate System and so are isolated from their state capitols and other economic hubs throughout the region. During the original round of Interstate System planning, no city in Georgia and Alabama left off of the system was larger than Columbus, Georgia at the time. Isolated until the construction of the I-185 spur, Columbus is to the present day the one of largest metropolitan areas in the Southeast region to be ignored by the Eisenhower Interstate System. Likewise metropolitan areas like Huntsville and Dothan, Alabama, and Athens and Albany, Georgia remain unconnected to other area population and economic centers.
In the original round of Interstate development, the primary population centers were inter-connected. The DOTS project does suggest further inter-connectivity of secondary, tertiary and even quanternary population centers as many of these have grown to population densities similar to those originally cities and towns which where originally connected via the Interstate System.
Economic GrowthThe Eisenhower Interstate System has been enormously successful as a tool of economic development. Undeniably, instance after instance of announcements of plant openings and closings produce winners and losers in economic development - with winners most often located near well integrated interstate systems. Naturally, excellent transportation isn’t the single factor employers seek when evaluating potential sites, other factors such as education, availability of employees, quality of life amenities and others are important.
U.S. Department of Transportation estimates that every $1 billion of investment in federal highway construction brings approximately 42,100 full-time jobs with it to those areas along the route. Headlines like these - “…build $10 million HQ on I-30…considered many locations along Interstate 30…” for Southern Refrigerated Transport, and “…Creeping East Down I-85…a new cluster has formed along Interstate 85…” referring to the many new automotive plant announcements in the Auburn-Opelika area, and 400 Jobs Created, when Honda came to Georgia and “…picked the site near I-20…”; sadly give way to headlines like these in Taccoa, Georgia, “145 to lose jobs after tool plant closure… because the area doesn’t have access to major highways like I-85.”
Georgia’s international port at Savannah should also be considered a key economic link to the rest of the south. IKEA’s recent announcement demonstrates the need for better highway infrastructure from the rest of the nation to Southeastern coasts. Interstates suggested in this document demonstrate vital links west and north for coastal Alabama, Mississppi, Georgia, Florida and South Carolina.
Environmental/Fuel Economy/Driver safety
Even as interstate systems have brought economic development, so have they encouraged, to some extent, suburban sprawl. Suburban sprawl has received the principal blame for the decay of city centers. Recent trends even in areas with excellent integrated highway systems such as Atlanta, however, have seen a rebirth of inner city growth. As citizens in such urban areas have stretched the limits of acceptable commute, and are now returning to the historically traditional community, so the Interstates are returning to their original intent as transportation corridors between population centers.
Limited-access Interstate highways are designed for and much more suited for inter-metro traffic. Locally, citizens do benefit from limited access highways used for effective intra-metro travel. Widened highways serve short distances well as connections between business districts and the smaller towns and suburbs that make up metropolitan areas. As local development occurs curb-cuts are permitted and traffic lights installed up and down these (four-laned) widened highways invite congestion and stop-and-go traffic. Stop-and-go traffic creates, according to some reports, as much as 30% of the pollution experienced in and around metropolitan areas. Stop-and-go traffic is also a chief contributor to poor fuel economy.
While highways are not usually associated with fuel economy or environmental improvement, avoidance of such issues as stop-and-go traffic should be considered as a point of compromise. Advocating new Interstate highways should not be perceived as superceding better solutitions, like rapid transit, for highly urbanized areas.
Further, for driver safety (as well as fuel economy and environmental issues), mingling of long-distance inter-metro and short-distance intra-metro local traffic should be avoided when possible. Where loop highways are suggested, for example, this document suggests larger loops than were installed in urban areas in the 1970's and '80's.
Evacuation Routes
Recent safety and security realities produce a compelling interest in providing new highways. A desperate need for more north-south limited access corridors was evidenced by hurricane activity. As tourism and residential populations continue to swell along the coasts, the need for effective access to coastal areas from population centers, and the capability to evacuate coastal areas will only become more critical. There are currently several Interstate widening plans on the drawing board in many coastal states, such as I-65 in Alabama. Here, we suggest creating new Interestates to achieve multiple goals outlined in this document. Biloxi, Mississippi, for instance, is a growing tourist destination and population center due to its casino businesses. Biloxi was also hard hit by Hurrican Katrina in 2005. Evacuation from Bilixi requires first east or west travel before a northern route can be accessed. By extending I-85 south from Montgomery, and through intersections with other suggested new Interstates like I-7 and I-14 and I-16 at Montgomery, a new network of evacuation routes are available to Biloxi residents and visitors. The I-85 extension also provides improved routes from population centers like Atlanta for tourism development and further economic development.
Utilization of Existing Highways
The expense of Interstate Highway development has risen throughout the decades. Figures aren’t readily available to adjust for inflation, so it is uncertain if the today’s cost is substantially different from the cost in the 1960’s or subsequent decades. However, whenever reasonable and appropriate, new Interstate Highway development should 1) merge with existing Interstate highways, 2) extend existing Spurs of Interstate highways, 3) utilize limited-access highway portions, 4) upgrade existing four-lane highways, 5) piggy-back on current planning of new Interstate systems, and 6) divert highway and Interstate-widening budgets, for evacuation routes for example.
Some budget savings may be achieved through route planning. When approaching metro-areas, most of these suggested Interstate routes create broad loop highways around the metro-core. At Birmingham, Alabama, for example, a partial loop was created with the construction of I-459. The suggested southeast extension of I-22 takes a northern arc to meet with I-459 to complete the Birmingham metro loop.
As each is discussed, a suggested Interstate development is identified by one the symbols associated with each of the criterion it meets. All of the Interstate highways meet both the Economic Growth Potential and Fuel Economy & Environmental and Driver Safety criteria, simply because these are so closely associated with highway development.
