WHAT: I-49 ON AGENDA OF LEGISLATIVE MEETING IN MENA

WHERE: RICH MOUNTAIN COMMUNITY COLLEGE LIBRARY

TIME AND DATE: TUESDAY, DECEMBER 1, 10:00AM


The I-49 Coalition will give a PowerPoint presentation to the Arkansas Joint Performance Review Committee. The Review Committee consists of 10 State Senators and 20 State House members plus staff whose job is to review any and all State activity over the past year. The Committee is made up of various Legislative Committee Chairs and, including Legislative staff, there should be from 50 to 60 present. At least some members of the State Highway Commission will also be there.

This will be an opportunity for the Coalition and Western Arkansas to have a platform to speak to the legislature and tell them our needs as well as perhaps influence them concerning the construction of Arkansas' portion of I-49 and ask the Highway Commission to give Western Arkansas more consideration. Rep Bill Abernathy and Sen Larry Teague have worked together to get the Coalition on the agenda and we will have up to one and one-half hours for a presentation and question/answer session. After the Legislative meeting, we will have a lunch (dutch treat) at the Old Armory for Coalition members and other interested persons. Lunch will be catered by the Fishnet restaurant and we encourage attendance for anyone interested.

At least two of the Committee Chairs are from Western Arkansas and they have expressed concern that I-69 is getting all the favorable press and little or nothing is reported for I-49 and Western Arkansas. The I-49 Coalition believes that is the result of Western Arkansas not being organized politically as effectively as it should be, and the Coalition's intent is to change that.

The Coalition will have members from Southern Missouri, Northern Louisiana, as well as Western Arkansas attending the meeting. The Texarkana Chamber has, in the past, prepared a PowerPoint presentation to our congressional delegation and we plan to update that presentation for the Legislative Committee.

It is very important to have participation from everyone along the I-49 Corridor in Western Arkansas. We will be sending special and multiple invitations to each legislator, county judge, quorum court member, mayor, city council member, and all local Chamber membership within 60 miles east of the corridor.

Thanks for posting!!

Anyone's thoughts either pro or con on this issue? :scratch:

Gee! How long has it been? About two years since the last meeting in Western Arkansas on the I-49 project? Or has it been three years? :scratch:
I just wish they'd all quit talking about it and start doing something about it. :banghead:

As long as this Interstate is not completed all the traffic will continue to go right through all the little towns thus many will stop to eat and buy gas and snacks and.....

I would be willing to bet that someone's pockets up the food chain are getting full.

Actually, it would open up more opportunities for restaurants and gas stations since there would probably be an exit for Mena. Also it would create more job opportunities because the contractors would probably hire local help.

My aging eyeballs would be much happier in the rain or after dark if they could be looking down an Interstate, rather than a narrow two-lane. They would be happier still on a state-of-the-art passenger train that runs from the East/West Amtrak at Texarkana to the Amtrak at Kansas City, and on to the northern Amtrak route in North Dakota. That way, from Mena I could get to every region of the country via rail, then transfer onto local busses to my destinations. With one less vehicle at our house I'd save a bucket of money every year: enough to jump on those trains and travel. With a decent rail system fewer Americans would need to drive everywhere, so we probably wouldn't even need I-49.

The problem with a "Yesterday's Solution" like I-49 is that the world has changed. We may as well spend our money and energy on meeting Tomorrow's Needs. Long before it's paid for, I-49 will sit forlorn and empty because we won't be able to afford the HEAT generated by the building, maintaining, and driving of a zillion private vehicles. We won't be able to afford the wars necessary to obtain the oil to run them, either. In the Way-Too-Soon future, life as we know it will become life as we remember it. Imagine an America that embraces the future, rather than an America that tries to reinforce the past.

Hydrogen and/or electric powered vehicles is the answer. :thumb:

:agree: Hydrogen , I think, is the way. BUT oil companies will fight all the way. When you get oil companies in bed with government, We WILL get screwed!

I kinda like horses and wagons. :D

That's what I was thinking.

And I imagine the truckers would appreciate not having to drive all the way thru Mena/Potter/Cove/Hatfield etc., etc., hitting all of the stoplights and dealing with the congestion.

and I would appreciate it too if they didn't have to. :thumb: