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