During Friday's episode of WVNN's "The Dale Jackson Show," State Sen. Arthur Orr (R-Decatur) spoke about the Ivey administration's push for the so-called West Alabama Corridor and its claim that it will better connect the region for economic opportunities.
Orr told host Dale Jackson that local officials in West Alabama are using the current lack of a four-lane highway as an excuse for lower levels of economic development.
"So much of this is built on local county commissioners," he said. "Small town mayors, going to Montgomery saying, 'If only we had a four lane coming through my county, through my city, we would be able to get industrial development. We would be able to grow and prosper, but we can't, because we don't have a four-lane connecting us to either an interstate or bringing an interstate through our county.'"
Orr noted that no study has been presented that economically justifies the West Alabama Corridor, which, if constructed, would pass through some of the most rural and underdeveloped areas in the state.
"I told Director Cooper this multiple times when this was first coming out of the gate, show me the study that shows that really does lead to economic development. I still haven't received one, " said Orr.
"And here's the reason I say that, based on our Alabama experience, look at 65 between Montgomery and Mobile. You go through some of the most rural counties in the state, as well as 85 going from Montgomery to Atlanta again, Macon County, other counties, no development, very rural."
The lawmaker again criticized officials for using the proposed roadway to distract from consistently slow-to-non-existent growth in local infrastructure and poor economic performance.
"These interstates have been going through for decades. It hasn't involved big smokestacks and jobs, prosperity or whatever, and it's all attributed to the infrastructure, the schools, the local mindset," Orr argued. "It's all attributed to the infrastructure, the schools, the local mindset. I don't have any study to back that up, but I think it's a fallacy that local elected leaders and officials use, and that's what they tell their constituents. "Well, the reason we're not prospering here in X county is because we're not connected to an interstate with a four-lane highway."
"That's the poor us, we don't have the capacity, because we don't have a four lane, and there's nothing I can do mentality," Orr added.
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