12/29/05
White County News-Telegraph
Stop I-3 partners with
green group: I-3 opponents can make tax-free donations
12/19/05
Athens Banner-Herald
I-3
opponents too late to fight for mountains
11/14/05
Newsweek
Once
Unique, Soon a Place Like Any Other
11/9/05
Smoky Mountain Sentinel
Commissioners:
“I’ve learned more, I’m not for (Interstate
3).”
11/04/05, Greenwire
Epic battle looms over
coast-to-mountains highway proposal
11/2/05
Creative Loafing
Road
Rage
10/27/05
The Gainesville Times
Critics:
New interstate a waste of funds
10/4/05
NPR's "Morning Edition"
Mountain
Interstate Plans Raise Alarm
10 or 11, 2005
The Cherokee Scout
Two editorials:
I-3 not right for our area
Don't get fooled by the rhetoric
9/14/05
Smoky Mountain News
I-3
planning process shrouded in ambiguity
9/12/05
AccessNorthGa.com
Stop
I-3 Coalition says Congress should use funds for Katrina relief
9/8/05
White County News-Telegraph
'Boondoggle'
9/7/05
St Petersburg Times
From
disaster to disgrace
9/6/05
WSB-TV, Channel 2
Partial transcript of interview
re Interstate 3
9/2/05
Savannah Morning News
Detour
highway bill
9/2/05
Towns County Sentinel
"STOP I-3" presented
to Rotarians
8/31/05
Georgia ForestWatch
Our back yards must get
bigger if the Stop I-3 fight is to succeed
8/29/05
The New York Times
Destroying
the National Parks
8/28/05
The Gainesville Times
I-3
should not be built just to carry nuclear materials
8/28/05
White County News-Telegraph
Interstate 3 opponents ask
why
8/26/05
White County News-Telegraph
Our
View
8/24/05
The Gainesville Times
Chambliss takes no stance
on mountain interstate
8/24/05
The Gainesville Times
I-3 opponents say politicians
invited to rally, but most didn't show
8/23/05
The Toccoa Record
Norwood
holds closed meeting
8/22/05
Atlanta Journal Constitution
Opposition
lines road to proposed interstates
8/12/05
The Northeast Georgian
Norwood says no I-3
route being considered
8/11/05
The Clayton Tribune
Norwood: Wait and see on I-3
8/10/05
Asheville Citizen-Times
Not
so fast on this whole I-3 thing
8/8/05
Asheville Citizen-Times
Interstate
3 study stirs WNC protest - Residents organize to fight road
plan
8/7/05
The Gainesville Times
Plans
for interstate again threaten our mountains' beauty
8/5/05
The Northeast Georgian
Highway bill to help fund Cornelia corridor
widening
8/5/05
The Knoxville News Sentinel
Williams:
Stand against destructive
I-3
8/4/05
White County News - Telegraph
White County Commission rejects
I-3 plan
7/31/05
Gwinnett Daily Post
New
interstate through the South has growing opposition
7/31/05
St. Petersburg Times
Interstate
is to mountains what drilling is to the gulf
7/30/05
WMAC-AM
Plan
For New SE Interstate Meetings With Opposition
7/29/05
Anderson Independent-Mail
I-3 study receives funding
boost
7/27/05
Chattooga Quarterly
Editorial
by Buzz Williams
7/27/05
Chattooga Quarterly
Interstate
3
7/24/05
Athens Banner-Herald
Reactions
mixed to proposed interstates
7/23/05
Anderson Independent-Mail
I-3 study on the way to President's
desk
7/14/05
The Clayton Tribune
Commissioners: No interstate
7/13 - The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mountains
no place for interstate
7/13/05
The Northeast Georgian
I-3: Just say 'no'
7/9/05
Rabun commissioners declare unanimous opposition to Interstate.
7/6/05
Smoky Mountain News
6/28/05
The Northeast Georgian
Stop I-3 Coalition encourages writing letters
to congressmen
6/24/05
The Northeast Georgian
Commission says 'no' to I-3
6/17/05
The Knoxville News Sentinel
Are we ready for another interstate?
6/3/05
The Northeast Georgian
Interstate 3 route study could begin soon
2/28/05
Virginia's New Economy
The Shape
of the Future: Interstate Crime
<< 2007 News Articles
<< 2006
News Articles
|
July 6, 2005
From the Smoky
Mountains News, a weekly newspaper covering Western
North Carolina based in Waynesville.
From the same issue:
• Interstate
3: Battle lines drawn as Georgia seeks to lighten Atlanta’s
load
• Interstate
3: WNC politicians weigh in
Interstate 3, Interstate 3: It’s going where?
by Becky Johnson • Staff Writer
Ever since rumors of a new interstate through Western North
Carolina began circulating a few weeks ago, curious residents
have spent hours studying maps and debating the optimum route
that will likely be chosen by federal road planners conducting
the feasibility study.
The casual debate over the potential route will likely rage
on for months as there is no obvious “best” choice.
A bill introduced in Congress in 2004 called for an “interstate
highway extending from Savannah, Georgia, to Knoxville, Tennessee,
following a route generally defined through Sylvania, Waynesboro,
Augusta, Lincolnton, Elberton, Hartwell, Toccoa, and Young
Harris, Georgia; and Maryville, Tennessee.”
The route in that intial bill is full of ambiguity between
Young Harris and Maryville — avoiding naming a single
town in all of Western North Carolina — perhaps purposely
avoided due to the complexity of routing an interstate through
the region.
A potential route was refined two months ago, however, by
U.S. Rep. Charlie Norwood, R-Georgia, the lead I-3 proponent.
Norwood said I-3 will enter WNC south of Hayesville, then
turn west along U.S. 64, turn northeast just before Murphy,
follow U.S. 19 to Andrews, then head northwest toward Robbinsville,
and follow U.S. 129 around Santeetlah Lake into Tennessee.
Opponents balk at the zigzag route not typically seen in interstates.
“It seems consistent with the politicians sitting down
with a highlighter and saying ‘these roads link up,’”
said D.J. Gerken, attorney for the Southern Environmental
Law Center.
The word “preliminary” cannot be emphasized enough
when talking about the route, said John Stone, spokesman for
Norwood.
“Nobody knows what the final proposed route is going
to be,” said Stone. “There are lots of options.”
Stone said the route could shift to the east and enter WNC
along the U.S. 441 corridor through Franklin, or it could
shift west of Murphy and wind up completely in Tennessee.
The Transportation Bill calls for the feasibility report to
be completed by the end of this year, but it will most likely
be next summer, Stone said.
“We would rather have a good report with three or four
different alternatives than a rushed one,” Stone said.
Some I-3 opponents are cautioning against a potential decoy
route, a bait and switch of sorts. That’s why Joe Gatins,
a lead organizer in the opposition movement, is urging opponents
to avoid the “not in my backyard” mentality.
“Everyone needs to pull together to oppose the road
where ever it might end up. If it is in the Southern Appalachians,
it’s a problem,” Gatins said.
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