News-Sentinel.com

Thursday, 03/18/1999

NAFTA

Mississippi River port excited about prospects of bridge, benefits it may bring

More traffic would mean more growth for Rosedale.

By WILL HOLFORD of Southwest Texas State University



News-Sentinel photo by Wayne Nicholas
Looking ahead Mayor J.Y. Trice at the Port of Rosedale.

ROSEDALE, Miss. — Mayor J.Y. Trice came to Rosedale more than a quarter of a century ago to help the town's schools with, as he put it, "an integration problem."

Today, as he navigates his Lincoln Towncar through the poverty-stricken town of 3,000 people, much like the ship pilots navigate their barges up and down the neighboring Mississippi River, he is able to see the results of his efforts. Trice proudly points out several dozen houses where blacks and whites live next door to one another in harmony.

However, the 77-year-old retired minister and school administrator hasn't stopped trying to make the community a better place. Trice and the rest of Rosedale are betting the proposed Interstate 69 and its accompanying bridge will bring prosperity to their town.

"I am really excited because of the possibility of I-69 coming this way," Trice said. "The bridge will open up the northwest corner of the state of Mississippi. That is why I have predicted Rosedale will be the gateway to the west."

City Councilmember Ann DeLoach agrees.

"I just envision I-69 as a godsend," DeLoach said.

Trice said he and DeLoach aren't the only ones who are excited about the highway and bridge.

"It is on the tips of the tongues of just about everyone you meet," Trice said.

Rosedale is in the heart of one of the poorest sections in one of the poorest states in the nation. To see how badly the town is in need of an economic miracle, one can simply drive through downtown Rosedale and notice the row of rundown buildings and boarded-up businesses next to the town's municipal offices.

Latest figures show the per capita personal income in Bolivar County, which includes Rosedale, was $12,741. Compare that to the rest of Mississippi at $14,745 and the United States at $20,800. While the economy in the rest of the country is booming, Bolivar County is struggling with 7.6 percent unemployment, almost double the 4 percent national unemployment rate.

Trice and other community leaders think I-69 will turn their sleepy little city into a boomtown.

"This is one of the regions of Mississippi where transportation is very, very badly needed," Trice said. "Hardly anyone ever comes through Rosedale unless they are coming to Rosedale."

The town is relatively isolated with only one north-south road going through it and one road, originating in Rosedale, going east.

Trice says Rosedale is the logical location for a new bridge spanning the Mississippi River.

Rosedale has a port that moved more tonnage in 1998 than it had in any other year since it began operations in 1981. The port is less than a quarter of a mile from where Trice said the bridge would cross the river if the site in Rosedale is approved.

"Our town is growing for the simple reason that we have a port here," Trice said. "Because of its potential, we just got through expanding our city limits. We annexed to accommodate potential growth."

But, as DeLoach points out, the port can only spur so much in the way of economic development and then something else must be done.

"We are maxed out as far as federal and state grants are concerned," DeLoach said. "We hope that with I-69 we can add industries and small businesses."

David Work, director of the Rosedale port, says the bridge and I-69 will lead to the economic development the community needs.

"Where there's a bridge, there's a lot of economic development," Work said.

Although a decision on the final route of I-69 and the location of the bridge has not been announced, Work says it is a "foregone conclusion" that the bridge will be near Rosedale.

Donna Lum, spokeswoman for the Mississippi Department of Transportation, confirmed the bridge will be built close to Rosedale.

"The federal law states that I-69 will cross somewhere in the vicinity of Rosedale," Lum said.

The bridge project began its life in the mid-'80s as a joint project between Arkansas and Mississippi called the Arkansas Mississippi Great River Bridge project. When the I-69 federal legislation was passed in the earl '90s, Arkansas and Mississippi had already been working on their bridge initiative for almost 10 years.

"NAPA Auto Parts has already asked for permission from the city to locate here," Trice said. "Holiday Inn Express has already been in touch with us."

The town is poised to capitalize on the predicted influx of industry. Rosedale has a nearly empty industrial park next to the port with the infrastructure in place that incoming companies will need to do business.

DeLoach predicts that once industry begins to move to Rosedale, other businesses will follow. It's not that DeLoach doesn't like the town's lone restaurant, the River Run Cafe, but she would like to see a little culinary competition come to town, along with hotels and motels.