My point still stands that the US-69 corridor North of Durant to up past Muskogee is losing population. The forces obstructing improvements to the US-69 corridor (residents of Atoka, Stringtown, etc) are not going to live forever. Eventually there will be too few interested parties left to continue the fight to block improvements to US-69.
In all likelihood, if the exodus of youth continues I could see those communities developing a sudden about-face in their attitudes to the US-69 corridor. They could become desperate for anything that could spark economic growth locally. Having an new Interstate, such as an extension of I-45, come through the area would do more to make their towns more visible on a large, national map.
The US-69 corridor is a major trucking route, one even more busy as an Interstate route. McAlester and Muskogee might become more attractive to businesses scouting for distribution center locations if they are along a completed Interstate corridor. Both of those small cities are currently losing population, just like Lawton. It's going to take the addition of good paying jobs, improvements to public schools among other things to attract young working families to those areas or at least retain locals who grow up there. Some of that requires tax dollars to happen. Unfortunately too many in the older set see any taxes as socialism or communism. There are rural towns here where residents have voted against tax measures to help the local school despite the roof at the school leaking and the walls growing black mold. Yet the same no-tax voters get angry when their kids or grandkids move away to the big city. It's hypocrisy.
Residents of many smaller cities and towns just don't realize the uphill battle they're facing at attracting talent. The state can do only so much via tax incentives like mapping out TIF districts in sections of the town. Major employers are just not going to locate there if they feel there is not enough of a workforce there to fill all the job positions.
I think US-69 is eventually going to be converted into a limited access super highway from the Red River to Big Cabin. It's only a question of how many years or decades will pass before then. And then there is also a question as to what form such a finished super highway will take. Will it be a freeway the entire length? Or will it be a mix of long toll roads with short freeway segments (like I-44)?
If the people in Atoka and Stringtown were fighting this battle smarter they might be able to lobby ODOT to convert this corridor into a "free I-45" without toll gates. That would attract more commerce and jobs to the corridor and help prevent those towns from drying up. But if they want to stay the course and let their towns wither, that eventual I-45 (or whatever it is) will bypass their towns in the form of a turnpike with few exits. The only free sections between Durant and Big Cabin will be segments in McAlester and Muskogee.
Author
Topic: I-69 in TX (Read 545038 times)