Interstate 14 Is Not The First Interstate Project Proposed For Columbus

COLUMBUS, GA: The recent push by several local college students who formed the Youth Infrastructure Coalition has created quite a buzz around the Chattahoochee Valley on talks of a new Interstate highway coming through the region and most specifically the city of Columbus. The more than decade old plan of Interstate 14 has sat quietly for a long period before receiving a breath of resuscitation from the young college students. While there is no timeline or even certainty the Interstate will be built, it has brought up the idea that there has been talks of several other interstates making their way around the Chattahoochee Valley & the city of Columbus. The internet is full of websites and blogs for potential interstate highways that may have impacted the Chattahoochee Valley and we have a few of them here.

Interstate 14, more commonly known as the 14th Amendment Highway is a project that was first announced in 2005. The highway originally would have been constructed from near Augusta, Georgia to Natchez, Mississippi. However as time went on the project grew to include a corridor that stretched from South Carolina to the heart of Texas. Last year the first 25-miles of the highway opened near the city of Killeen, Texas. That opening has opened the minds of many across the Chattahoochee Valley that our leg of the project may be in the near future.

However I-14 looks like it may be a real possibility especially since Georgia already has a large portion of the infrastructure in place with the Fall Line Freeway that runs between Columbus & Augusta. The project still may be a good ways off in the future if it ever materializes. Talk of a major Interstate through Columbus is something that has sat on the minds of many as the new highway will most likely bring new jobs and business to the area, but talk of a highway through Columbus is nothing new. There have been several other Interstate projects proposed for the area that never materialized and some that became the brainchild of online bloggers who sought to pickup steam on new limited access highways through the Chattahoochee Valley.

INTERSTATE 185 EXPANSION

One project that looked like it was going to get going in the area was an expansion of Interstate 185. The Georgia Department of Transportation eventually scrapped the plan. The idea of extending Interstate 185 south to Albany, Thomasville, Camilla, and Monticello to connect with Interstate 10 in Jefferson County, Florida was spearheaded by the Albany Chamber of Commerce. However, GDOT discarded the project in 2006 and instead sought to focus on improvements to existing roadways in South Georgia.

In addition to the expansion through Albany, GDOT had also focused on running Interstate 185 as a route to connect with Panama City, Florida and the beach community of the Florida Panhandle. Several community forums were held around the region in 2008 and 2009, but the project slowly died off as well. Today many beachgoers still find their way through the Chattahoochee Valley while trying to reach the emerald sands of Florida’s panhandle. Routes such as 185 to U.S. Highway 431 are used. The U.S. Highway route is slightly slower with the lack of limited access roadways once motorist exit U.S. Highway 80 in Phenix City to get on U.S. 280/431.

This image shows the proposed route an expansion of Interstate 81 would take.

While much of the focus on Interstate 185’s expansion has looked south, one idea also took the route north and south, placing Columbus and the Chattahoochee Valley in the heart of a major east coast Interstate. Around the same time as many were looking at running Interstate 185 to Panama City there was talk of joining the highway with an existing route for quicker north to south travel.

Interstate 81 starts in the state of New York and runs south to Knoxville, Tennessee. Talk began to circulate that Interstate 81 should be extended to Florida. The proposed route would have taken the roadway out of Knoxville on Interstate 75 south to Chattanooga. As the roadway crossed into Georgia it would split off of Interstate 75 near the city of Calhoun, just south of the Georgia/ Tennessee border and run southwest to Rome, Georgia. From Rome the highway would run along a route now used by U.S. Highway 27 to LaGrange before joining the existing Interstate 185 route into Columbus.

The route would then go south of the city and cross the Chattahoochee River near Eufaula, Alabama and link up with U.S. Highway 431 into Dothan. Once in Dothan the roadway would join U.S. Highway 231 into Panama City. If constructed the route would have changed Interstate 185 to Interstate 81. However, the project never materialized and slowly died. Talks have also proposed extending Interstate 185 south to Tallahassee, a city that is comparable to Columbus in size. However, that push has been very slow and not gained much footing.

A BIRMINGHAM CONNECTION

A little over two years ago the state of Alabama received a new Interstate as I-22 opened. The route which had been in discussion since the 1950’s created a faster route between Birmingham and Memphis, TN via the existing U.S. Highway 78 route. As the roadway connected the two southeastern hub cities there was talk of continuing to run the route southeastward towards Columbus. Talk on this has been extremely limited and not gained much traction.

The proposed idea would continue to run I-22 south from Birmingham to Columbus via the existing U.S. Highway 280 route which runs directly between Columbus and Birmingham. The route would bring the highway through cities such as Chelsea, Alexander City, Dadeville, Auburn, Opelika, Smiths Station, Phenix City, and into Columbus where it is expected it would be linked with the existing Interstate 185 route before continuing south to the city of Brunswick, along the Georgia coast.

This rending shows the proposed route of Interstate 22. If extended from Birmingham to Brunswick, GA.

The project has just been talk and gained no political support recently, meaning most likely the highway will not be built in the near future. It took almost 70-years to get the existing Interstate 22 into reality. So as this is less than a decade old idea, it may be another sixty plus years before this project can actually gain some footing or possibility of development. If the Interstate 22 corridor is ever built the additional influx of motorist into the city of Columbus also led to the proposal of another Interstate being built locally to support the extra traffic and relieve congestion around Metro Columbus.

A NEW BYPASS AROUND COLUMBUS?

If Interstate 22 was ever built between Columbus and Birmingham then as the route continued into South Georgia and idea was proposed to build a bypass around Columbus. Interstate 222 would have been a highway built to go around the city of Columbus and Fort Benning, much like Interstate 285 extends around Atlanta. The proposed route would include areas of Georgia and Alabama and would have been named The Benning Beltway. The route would start outside of Phenix City and go north and south, running into areas such as Harris County, and southern portions of Chattahoochee County before intersecting back in with Interstate 22 south of Cusseta.

The route sounds good, it was just a flurry of an idea and has received no real backing and picked up most of its moment in online blogger sites in the early 2000's. The funding to create the route would take a generation in itself and without existing roadways to make the road a reality or even feasible this area will most likely not ever see a bypass built around the Columbus-Phenix City area. In addition Alabama officials are looking at a new roadway with the designation Interstate 222 being built along the existing Interstate 22 route in north Alabama.

The Benning Beltway was a proposed loop road around Columbus & Fort Benning that gained little footing outside of online blogs.

Several of the roadways do sound like they can be accomplished, but the hopes of seeing Columbus obtain a new Interstate highway may just be a glimmer of what if’s for the near future. While Interstate 14 does seem like it may actually be built in the city, it does not look like it will be anytime soon. Hopefully the momentum that has begun to embrace the area about the possibility of Interstate 14 will drive leaders to push harder to get the funding to have the roadway built sooner than later.