I-69 focus of Monday meeting

By Greg Little for The Covington Leader Online
September 23, 2005

Sen. Mark Norris thinks the process for Interstate 69 is moving in a positive direction.

He said that Tuesday because on the eve of a crucial informational meeting to be hosted by Norris, R-Collierville, the state has announced formal hearings are now scheduled for November.

“I said I wanted to jump-start the official public hearing process and that obviously worked,” said Norris, chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee.

Tennessee Department of Transportation officials announced late Tuesday the schedule for the formal public hearings later this year. (See related story.)

An informational meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Monday at Brighton High School. Norris is encouraging everyone to attend that meeting to prepare for the formal hearings.

“It will give them a heads up, they can get information and gather their thoughts to make more meaningful comments at the official meetings,” said Norris.

TDOT spokesman Pamela Marshall of Memphis stressed on Tuesday that TDOT is not hosting the Monday meeting.

“This is Sen. Norris’s meeting,” said Marshall. “We are coming at the invitation of the senator.”
Norris, however, said he met with TDOT officials just last week and they have a computer-generated presentation for the meeting and will be there to answer questions.

“This meeting is not about me,” said Norris. “This is about I-69 and the issues involving the interstate. I am just facilitating the gathering.”

Norris arranged the meeting after many residents said they were frustrated the process has moved so slowly. Additionally, the federal government recently approved a highway bill that includes money to finish the interstate from the Kentucky border to Dyersburg and also has money to begin the process of engineering and right-of-way work on the segment from Dyersburg to Millington.

That section has been the focus of discussion for many years because it is the only part of the proposed interstate in Tennessee where a route has not been established.

That route will have major economic impacts near the cities and towns, which include Covington, Brighton, Munford and Atoka. Local officials have voiced their frustration with the process but now that may ease since the state has established the formal hearing process.

“The official meetings is where people need to register their concerns,” stressed Marshall. “Anything at this meeting (Monday) will not be part of the official document.”

Norris said that is why it is crucial people attend Monday’s meeting.

“This is a move-forward kind of meeting,” said Norris. “It is preliminary to the meetings where public testimony will be taken. It is designed for the public to prepare for the TDOT meetings.”

“We are proceeding forward and moving,” said Dyersburg Mayor Bill Revell, chairman of the Tennessee I-69 coalition.

Revell said he was “very happy” on Tuesday when he learned the public hearing process will take place in November. Revell has been advocating for the interstate for many years.

Norris said Monday’s meeting will give TDOT officials a chance to “explain the process again.”
He also pointed out that “at the time” he arranged for Monday’s meeting, “we hadn’t had a respo
nse from TDOT” concerning why the process was taking so long and when the hearings might be held.

Revell, who will be in attendance Monday, said state officials have said for nearly two years the public hearing process would be taking place but nothing has happened until this week’s announcement.

Once the public hearings are conducted in the four locations in West Tennessee, TDOT officials will then gather all of that information and formulate a final document which outlines environmental issues and many other factors. Once that document gets final approval, the state will then set the route.

The final decision about the route will be made by TDOT Commissioner Gerald Nicely and Gov. Phil Bredesen.

Norris said the concept of Monday’s meeting is “not to complain about what’s happened in the past” but to prepare for what will happen in the future.

“Come one, come all,” said Norris about Monday’s meeting.