SLS 16RS-2367 ORIGINAL
2016 Regular Session
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 90
BY SENATOR JOHN SMITH
CONGRESS. Memorialize Congress to designate the LA 8/LA 28 corridor as Future I-14.
1 A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
2 To memorialize the Congress of the United States to designate the Louisiana Highway
3 8/Louisiana Highway 28 corridor as Future Interstate 14.
4 WHEREAS, Interstate 14 (I-14), also known as the "14th Amendment Highway",
5 the Gulf-Coast Strategic Highway, and the Central Texas Corridor is a proposed interstate
6 highway from Texas to Georgia; the original conceptual western terminus of the highway
7 was from Natchez, Mississippi, and later from I-49 near Alexandria, Louisiana, extending
8 east through the states of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, ending at Augusta, Georgia
9 or North Augusta, South Carolina; and
10 WHEREAS, advocates of the Gulf-Coast Strategic Highway proposed extending I-14
11 to the I-10 near Fort Stockton and the junction of US 277 and I-10 near Sonora, Texas; and
12 WHEREAS, the proposal for the 14th Amendment Highway has its origins in the
13 Safe, Accountable, Flexible Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users
14 (SAFETEA-LU); and
15 WHEREAS, the study and planning of I-14 has continued because of support and
16 interest from both the Congress and the associated state highway departments; and
17 WHEREAS, the I-14 corridor provides a national strategic link to numerous major
18 military bases and major Gulf Coast and Atlantic ports used for overseas deployments in six
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SLS 16RS-2367 ORIGINAL
1 states from Texas to South Carolina; and
2 WHEREAS, the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act (FAST) Act, signed
3 by President Obama on December 14, 2015, officially assigned the Future I-14 designation
4 to the US 190 Central Texas Corridor; and
5 WHEREAS, congressional advocacy for the legislation spiked following the
6 post-logistics controversies; the act included the 14th Amendment Highway and the 3rd
7 Infantry Division Highway; the legislation did not provide funding for either highway; and
8 WHEREAS, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) currently has no funding
9 identified beyond the Phase II studies to support long-range planning, environmental review
10 or construction which must be initiated at the state or regional level with any further
11 direction from the Congress; and
12 WHEREAS, the 14th Amendment Highway and the Gulf-Coast Strategic Highway
13 concepts continued through active studies to the present as local and state interest began to
14 surface and support in the Congress, FHWA and, most importantly, in the associated state
15 highway departments, all the key ingredients necessary to successfully justify funding any
16 proposed federal-aid highway project; and
17 WHEREAS, the FHWA issued its report on the 14th Amendment Highway to the
18 Congress in 2011 and made recommendation for further environmental and feasibility
19 sub-studies; however, little action to fund these studies advanced in Congress after 2011; and
20 WHEREAS, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) also conducted the
21 US 190/IH-10 Feasibility Study in 2011, which concluded that it was justified to upgrade
22 US 190 to a divided four-lane arterial highway based on current traffic projections to 2040,
23 but that upgrading US 190 to a full freeway through Texas was only justified if the 14th
24 Amendment Highway is actually constructed from Louisiana to Georgia; and
25 WHEREAS, the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD)
26 has not endorsed designation of "Future I-14" in Louisiana as proponents of the Gulf-Coast
27 Strategic Highway presented the LA 8/LA 28 corridor as a conventional four lane highway;
28 and DOTD is pursuing its development of the LA 8/LA 28 corridor, having completed LA
29 28 between Alexandria and Fort Polk, and having included the relocation of LA 28 south of
30 Alexandria in Priority A of the Statewide Transportation Plan and the section from Archie
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SLS 16RS-2367 ORIGINAL
1 to Vidalia in Priority B of the Statewide Transportation Plan; and
2 WHEREAS, the Legislature of the State of Louisiana recognizes that the designation
3 of the LA 8/LA 28 corridor in Louisiana as Future I-14 is vital as a national strategic link
4 to numerous major military bases and major Gulf Coast and Atlantic ports used for overseas
5 deployments in six states from Texas to South Carolina.
6 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana memorializes
7 the Congress of the United States to designate the Louisiana Highway 8/Louisiana Highway
8 28 corridor in Louisiana as Future Interstate 14.
9 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution shall be transmitted
10 to the secretary of the United States Senate and the clerk of the United States House of
11 Representatives and to each member of the Louisiana delegation to the United States
12 Congress.
The original instrument and the following digest, which constitutes no part
of the legislative instrument, were prepared by Sharon F. Lyles.
DIGEST
SCR 90 Original 2016 Regular Session John Smith
Memorializes Congress to designate the Louisiana Highway 8/Louisiana Highway 28
corridor as Future Interstate 14.
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