Economic Effects of Interstate
Highways, Part 2: Rural Counties Would Lose
Economic Effects of Interstate Highways
Part 1: The Study's Already Been Done!
Does the construction of new interstate highways create
economic development?
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"When I drive along
I-40, you know what I see? Nothing, nothing, nothing,
Cracker Barrel. Nothing, nothing, nothing, BP. Nothing,
nothing, nothing, McDonald's."
—a Knoxville, TN resident
opposing I-3's harm to small-town businesses
(photo
by Larry Winslett)
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The Federal Highway Administration funded a study,
that was concluded in February of 2005, on economic effects
of selected rural interstates at the county level. These
studies examined nine interstates or near-interstate corridors.
The research correlated data - generally county level -
on population, employment, income, etc. with the time period
before, during, and after completion of the interstate.
The research confirms previous FHWA statements that highway
improvement, by itself, does not bring economic development
but, in some cases, combined with other effects, the highway
improvement can lead to such development. In some counties,
changes in population, employment, income etc. were similar
to changes in counties without interstates. In a number
of counties economic growth was anemic despite proximity
to an interstate highway.
For example, anemia was the case in Emanuel, Treutlen,
Wilkinson and Twiggs counties in Georgia that are in the
I-16 corridor (I-16 does not go through Wilkinson county,
but does go near it.) For these counties, the advantages
of the interstate (employer access to labor, labor mobility,
supplier access to market, etc.) simply were less significant
than other economic conditions - for example the relative
decline of the US industrial economy.
In fact, there is some speculation that in portions of
these counties, the I-16 suppressed economic activity: either
by facilitating retail activity outside the area that would
otherwise remain in the county; by diverting through traffic
from non-interstate highways; or, by acting as a physical
barrier to commerce.
Three places with economic gains were identified along
the I-16 corridor. Two of those were near the metropolitan
area of Savannah. The other Dublin, Georgia, is located
halfway between Savannah and Macon. Dublin proved to be
an exception to the downsides and showed increases in warehousing
and distribution because the luck of its location.
I-16 was not the only corridor with some counties lagging
behind in economic growth. Similar examples occur in the
other corridor studies. An interesting example of such a
county in the South Carolina I-26 corridor is Orangeburg
County, which is between I-26 and I-95. In this county,
one of the problems preventing economic development is access
to utilities.
In conclusion, the FHWA researchers stated that "It is
difficult to look at the results of this research and agree
with those proponents of developing new interstate highways
who envision increased employment all along any corridor
with an interstate." The researchers also stated, "For counties
where economic development is inhibited by the lack of developable
sites or other barriers, the results of this research imply
that a new interstate may result in little improvement in
the economic development picture."
The case
studies showed that new highways did sometimes facilitate
major new industrial and warehousing activity, particularly
where there were existing labor markets, connections with
other highway routes and available land with zoning and
sewer/water infrastructure to encourage such development.
Most of the areas where Interstate 3 is proposed to go through
do not have these supporting infrastructures.
If this Federal Highway Administration study says that
proposing an interstate highway through rural farmlands
and national forests will not bring economic growth, why
do Senatorial and Congressional representatives from Georgia
say that it will?
Does the United States just have way too much money and
need to throw some of it away on a "feasibility study" that
duplicates a study they did five months ago?
The study's already been done. Interstate 3 just doesn't
make sense.
...research and opinions
by Roger Williams
STOP I-3 Coalition member,
White County, in northeast Georgia
Economic Effects of Interstate
Highways, Part 2: Rural Counties Would Lose
