A new, five-state highway that includes central Alabama and runs from Georgia to Texas was approved for designation in the U.S. Senate this week as part of an amendment to the bipartisan infrastructure spending package.
The first 25 miles of I-14 were already established in central Texas, but the amendment proposed by Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Tex., and Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., to the infrastructure legislation Tuesday that was approved in a voice vote would designate several corridors of the highway linking Gulf Coast states and stretching from Augusta, Georgia to Midland-Odessa, Texas.
“We expect that the Senate infrastructure package will be voted on soon and sent to the House for consideration,” said John Thompson, chairman of the I-14/Gulf Coast Strategic Highway Coalition, a group that has been building support for the interstate for 10 years. “It appears the momentum is in place to get this passed and signed by the president.”
In Alabama, I-14 would from the Georgia-Alabama border to Phenix City to Montgomery through Selma to Demopolis and the Mississippi border. The highway would contain a spur linking it to Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery.
Cruz said the proposed highway has support from the Alabama Department of Transportation and similar agencies in other states where I-14 would run through.
ALDOT could not immediately be reached for comment.
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