Muscogee County GaArchives News.....Ribbon Link to New Era (I-185) 1978 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Christine Thacker http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00033.html#0008100 May 27, 2007, 7:23 pm Sesquicentennal Supplement IV, Ledger -Enquirer 1978 Ribbon Link to New Era By Constance Johnson Ledger Staff Writer It cuts through the west Georgia countryside like a broad ribbon of red clay, extending almost 44 miles between the end of the Lindsay Creek Bypass in Columbus to 1-85 near LaGrange. Years of frustration, political maneuvering and a landmark environmental battle have become a part of the turbulent history of 1-185, Columbus' link to the nationwide interstate system and,in the optimistic view of many, its doorway to a totally new economic era. Construction along the 43.6-mile, $100 million connector is so advanced that the Georgia Department of Transportation is confident the highway will be ogen by July, 1979, which would be five months ahead of schedule. The opening date, when it does arrive, will be a time of celebration. Already, the disappointment in Columbus, which was left off the original interstate network, has been replaced by expectations of future benefits. But the question why Columbus was omitted may never be satisfactorily answered. Emory Parrish, state deputy transportation commissioner, says the story began in 1939, when the Bureau of Public Roads made a study for a nationwide system of highways. Five years later, this took a more definitive form when Congress accepted a 1944 bureau study called "Inter-regional and Defense Highways." Five atternate systems, ranging in length from 17,000 to 78,000 miles, were considered in the study. The 48,000-mile version showed four-lane highways, from Columbus to Macon, and from Columbus to LaGrange. Congress selected a 40,000-mile system. None, of the roads touched Columbus." Not until 1968, when 1,500 miles were added to what had evolved as the federal interstate system, did Columbus show up on the network along, dotted lines indicating future construction of I-185. Even after I-185 was added, the problems were far from over. The first major setback, the result of an environmental battle started in 1971, resulted in a two-year delay, a new route for I-185 through Harris County, and celebrity status for a "saved" Pine Mountain. Then came the economic crunch of 1974, inflation, impoundment of federal highway trust funds, and the threat of an indefinite postponement of 1-185. That crisis was finally resolved when the 1975 General Assembly approved Gov.George Busbee's plan to finance completion of Georgia's interstates with state bond issue funding. The bonds are to be paid off with future federal appropriations, thanks to the effort of U.S. Reps. Jack Brinkley and Bo Ginn of Georgia. who steered through Congress the necessary "advance funding" legislation that would enable states to build now and pay later as federal interstate dollars are released. By July, 1975, Georgia was ready to award the first batch of contracts financed with the initial bond issue. Among them was a $6.5 million contract for six structures and 7.6 miles of grading on the northern leg of I-185, in Troup County. Opinions differ as to how the routes for the original 40,000 miles of interstate highways were established. Former State Rep. Mac Pickard, Columbus, for one, believes that politics had a lot to do with Columbus being left off the system in 1944. A few powerful people in state government he thinks,were successful in getting Georgia's mileage routed through their home towns. Columbus, with virtually no political strength under the old county unit system of the 1940s and 1950s, didn't even get into the ballgame. Parrish, who joined the State Highway Department (now the Department of Transportation) in 1952, says his research indicates the original routes were set at the federal, not the state level. The state contributed maps and statistical information, but the routes were established by the Bureau of Public Roads, he said. Frank Morast of Columbus, a member of the DOT board and until recently its chairman; doesn't agree. "I can't imagine the state not having input into it," he said. One thing is certain, Neither state legislators from Columbus or their constituents knew anything about the selection of routes until after the fact. Morast points out that there was no requiretment, in 1944, for public involvement in highway planning. "State and federal highway engineers did what they thought was best. They didn't have to consult people." And the highways weren't always welcomed. "Back in those days," he said. "there was a lot of fear that little filling stations and restaurants would be put out of business. There were people against anything being done." There were also reports, hard to verify, that when the routes were under review in the mid-50's - after, Congress authorized the interstate system proposed by President Eisenhower - Fort Benning leaders were cool to the idea of a Columbus connector. Whatever the reasons, Columbus was again bypassed, although Parrish said state highway engineers thought it should be on the system. "How it could miss, I don't know, other than the traffic just wasn't there," he said. "None of us could understand it." Columbus certainly finds it difficult to understand how Fort Benning, the largest infantry base in the world, could be ignored in a network of "defense" highways. Even more puzzling was the fact that the interstate system envisioned a coast- to-coast highway from Savannah to San Diego, Calif. - with the exception of one stretch between Macon, Ga. and Meridian, Miss. In the 1950s when the proposed 40,000-mile network was being reviewed, this missing link of interstate would have connected military installations at Warner Robins, Fort Benning, Montgomery (Maxwell Air Force Base), Selma, Ala., and Meridian. To every inquiry and protest,the answer was more or less the same: east-west traffic in this corridor could not justify an interstate highway. When 1-185 was added to the system in 1968, it was tacked to the bottom of Georgia's list, and state officials predicted it would be 1980 before it would be built. This set off another round of furious protests from Columbus, and highway priorities became a major issue in the 1970 gubernatoriai campaign. All the candidates promise to accelerate the 1-185 schedule. By 1971, however, another hurdle cropped up. Bert Lance, then state highway commissioner, warned that stiff new federal environmental regulations spelled trouble. Lance knew that opposition was developing against the planned route for 1-185 through Harris County, a line that meant a 11O-foot cut into the crest of Pine Mountain. That alignment had been discussed at a public hearing at Hamilton, in June, 1970, and was being reviewed by the Federal Highway Administration when the storm broke. Leading the opposition, which turned out to be so formidable that the state eventually abandoned the route, was Mrs. Cason Callaway Sr., co-founder of Callaway Gardens. Later. Mrs. Callaway was joined by four environmental organizations in a Court battle against the Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration. "We are not trying to stop a highway," Mrs. Callaway said. "We are trying to save a mountain." They won, of course. In January, 1973, two years after Mrs. Callaway announced her 'intention to stand and fight, Lance signed a petition to the U.S. District Court in Atlanta, saying the department planned to abandon the controversial line. An alternate location farther west, skirting Pine Mountain, would be sought. This was what Mrs. Callaway and the environmentalists had suggested. And, as they had predicted, the cost estimates for the rerouted highway were lower. IronicaIly, the Federal Highway Administration had rejected the Pine Mountain crossing in 1968, and suggested the road be moved a few miles to the west. But the easterly line crossing the mountain, which would have been nearer to Hamilton and to Callaway Gardens, was pushed by Howard "Bo" Callaway, the former congressman and 1966 gubernatorial candidate. This put mother and son, both strong-willed individuals, on opposite sides of the battle of Pine Mountain. After the state threw in the towel, Callaway remarked good-naturedly that "now I can go home to dinner at Blue Springs." The 1974 financial crisis was solved by the 1975 decision to use bond issue funding, which put I-185 back on track. Seven months afer work was started on I- 185 in Troup County, a contract was awarded for grading the southernmost section, in Columbus. When the very last contract for I-185 was let on March 31, for paving eight miles in Troup and Harris Counties, the DOT reaffirmed its promise that the entire highway would be open by July, 1979. Special Sesquicentennal Supplement IV Ledger - Enquirer, Sunday, May 7, 1978, S-29 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/muscogee/newspapers/ribbonli2262gnw.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/gafiles/ File size: 9.5 Kb