Officials: Shoals must pursue road upgrades

From her home in Lawrenceburg, Tenn., it's about the same distance for Corey Stem to go shopping in Columbia, Tenn., as it is in the Shoals.

Stem often opts for Columbia because the roads leading there are better than those in Alabama.

"We go to Columbia a lot. It's a lot easier to get there," Stem said while shopping recently in Florence.

Now that Tennessee is putting the finishing touches on four-laning the final segment of U.S. 43 between the Alabama line and Columbia, Shoals officials fear many Tennesseans will opt to head north when they go shopping.

"It's of the utmost importance that Alabama four-lane 43 from the state line to Killen," said Jay Klos, a Florence businessman and past chairman of the Shoals Chamber of Commerce.

Many businesses in the Shoals rely heavily on customers from surrounding comm unities, and it's vital that visiting shoppers have easy access to the region, said Steve Holt, chamber of commerce president.

With the future Interstate 22 being built between Memphis, Tenn., and Birmingham making it easier for residents of Marion and Winston counties to travel to Tupelo, Miss., to shop, Holt said the Shoals must be more aggressive in pursuing a quick completion of the U.S. 43 improvements.

He said additional shoppers from Tennessee who could be lured to the Shoals by a four-laned U.S. 43 could offset losses caused by the Interstate 22 project that is replacing U.S. 78.

The Alabama Department of Transportation is purchasing rights-of-way for four-laning U.S. 43 between Killen and Alabama 64. Construction of the four-laning project to the Tennessee line is not scheduled for completion until 2012.

Klos said the Shoals legislative delegation is committed to seeing U.S. 43 four-laned.

He said Shoals residents could help speed the project by contacting Department of Transportation officials in Montgomery and other state leaders about speeding up the work.

Klos said about 15 percent of the retail traffic in the Shoals comes from Tennessee.

Holt said when the long-awaited four-laning of Alabama 157 from the Shoals to Interstate 65 in Cullman is completed this summer, state officials should focus their attention on improving U.S. 43 between Killen and the Tennessee line.

"Having 157 four-laned to Cullman is going to bring some people to the Shoals who have been shopping in Cullman and Birmingham in the past. But having 43 four-laned all the way to the state line would definitely bring a lot of people in," Holt said.

State transportation officials promised in 1992 to four-lane the highway to coincide with Tennessee's efforts to improve the busy highway. Tennessee will complete its project this year. Meanwhile, construction has yet to begin in Alabama.

"We all need to put pressure on the people in Montgomery to make sure U.S. 43 receives top priority," Klos said.

Shoals leaders cannot rest their laurels on seeing U.S. 43 completed, Florence Mayor Bobby Irons said.

Irons wants area leaders to work with state and federal officials to build a link from the Shoals to Interstate 65 and to widen U.S. 43 all the way to Mobile.

In addition to attracting shoppers, Irons said good highways are a must for luring new businesses and industries to a community.

Holt said many shoppers around north Alabama, northeast Mississippi and southern Tennessee prefer shopping in the Shoals to going to larger cities such as Nashville, Memphis or Birmingham.

Karen Davis of Leoma, Tenn., likes shopping in the Shoals because there is a variety of stores and traffic is not as bad as some larger cities, she said. She is not bothered by U.S. 43 being a two-lane highway in Alabama and will continue to shop here even if the road is not widened.

"I just like coming here," she said while shopping at Regency Square Mall.

Misty Killen, of Loretto, Tenn., also enjoys shopping in the Shoals but dislikes having to travel on a two-lane highway to get here. "If would definitely speed things up if they would four-lane 43."

Klos said the fondness many Tennessee resident have for shopping in the Shoals might soon vanish if they continue to have to deal with heavy traffic on a two-laned U.S. 43.

"The easier we can make it for shoppers to get to the Shoals, the better," Klos said. "It's extremely important we get U.S. 43 four-laned sooner rather than later."

Dennis Sherer can be reached at 740-5746 or dennis.sherer@timesdaily.com.