Dallas County residents want I-14 to be closer to Selma for shopping benefits

Even though more people would be displaced, Dallas County residents seem to prefer routing a proposed interstate closer to the city of Selma so the city can benefit from the traffic.  

That’s the conclusion of a research project on the proposed I-14 interstate highway conducted by University of Alabama graduate student Jack Spalding. The idea of an interstate to run east and west from Augusta, Georgia to Odessa, Texas roughly paralleling I-10 and I-40 dates back to 2005, when the Gulf Coast Strategic Highway was proposed in Congress.

It’s early in the planning stages, but Spalding has been studying maps and interviewing Dallas County residents for several years to complete his master’s degree thesis on where they think the interstate highway should go. He recently presented his findings at a meeting at the Selma-Dallas County Library. 

Three routes are proposed for I-14 through Dallas County, all roughly paralleling Highway 80 through the county. 

The northerly route would take the proposed interstate through Valley Grande near the Dollar General.The middle route would run south of Selma but turn north well before Old Cahawba, crossing Highway 80 near the ALDOT office and garage.

The southerly route would take the highway south of Selma, between Tyler and Sardis. It would then cut through the Old Cahawba Archaeological Park’s Forever Wild land just south of the park before turning north just past the park crossing Highway 80 near Marion Junction as it turned back west.  

The southerly route is less populated, so fewer people would be displaced by the highway. Most of the residents who would become highway refugees are Black. The middle and northern routes would take the highway through more populated areas, which can complicate construction, especially if the residents object, according to Spalding’s thesis.

Although it’s less populated, the southern route would put the closest exit about seven miles away from downtown Selma, limiting the potential impact on shopping and tourism. The middle and northern routes are about five miles from downtown, but they are closer to the Highway 80 corridor, which would be more likely to benefit the Dallas County economy.

The middle route would be very close to Craig Field and Industrial Park, which could make industrial sites there more valuable, Spalding said.

Dallas County residents are overwhelming in favor of the interstate coming through, according to the surveys Spalding produced, with 80% of the respondents seeing the proposed interstate “as a good thing.”  

Spalding said that Dallas County residents he surveyed rated the southerly route the lowest, although folks who lived along the route were very much in favor of it. The northerly route ranked slightly higher in the survey than the middle route.  

Folks along the northern and central route were more likely to say that they looked forward to I-14 because it would make it easier to get to Prattville than residents who preferred the southern route.  

Spalding said that the people he spoke with in Dallas County hoped that talk about I-14 would lead to a regional plan for Selma and the Black Belt.  

“Selma needs more than a Racetrack (gas station) at the exit,” Spalding said. “Selma is dead center in the middle of the state. An interstate could make Selma a logistical center.”  

Spalding said, “There are many things inherent to Selma that make it special compared to other small towns of the same size. But Selma has been left by the wayside, and it struggles to get investment. As someone at the meeting said, young people need a reason to stay or even move back.”  

Spalding completed his master’s degree from the Laboratory for Location Science in UA’s department of geography. He now works for the American Transportation Research Institute, the research arm of the American Trucking Association in Atlanta.