Fox West Texas reported the following news Thursday regarding Interstate 14:

The U.S. Senate has unanimously approved an amendment to the pending Bipartisan Infrastructure Package expanding the congressional designation of Interstate 14 on a corridor across Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia.

According to a press release from the Gulf Coast Strategic Highway Coalition, the amendment was offered jointly by Senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Raphael Warnock of Georgia.

The full I-14 congressional designation was supported by all 10 senators along the corridor which runs from Midland-Odessa, Texas, to Augusta, Georgia. The designation was approved earlier in the U.S. House and has the support of every House member whose district is on the I-14 route.

According to the City of San Angelo, Tom Green County Judge Steve Floyd is the local voting member on the I-14 Coalition and Guy Andrews, the City’s economic development director, is an ex-officio member.

“We expect that the Senate infrastructure package will be voted on soon and sent to the House for consideration. It appears the momentum is in place to get this passed and signed by the President,” John Thompson, I-14/Gulf Coast Strategic Highway Coalition chairman, said.

The coalition has been building grassroots support for I-14 over the past decade.

In Texas, the corridor runs from Midland/Odessa to San Angelo, Killeen/Fort Hood, Bryan/College Station, Livingston, Woodville and Jasper.

Moving east the designated I-14 corridor connects Fort Polk/Leesville, Alexandria-Pineville, Louisiana; Natchez and Laurel, Mississippi; Selma and Montgomery, Alabama; and Columbus, Macon and Augusta, Georgia.

Four spur interstate routes connect future I-14 to I-10 in Texas and Mississippi and the designation includes an interstate loop at Bryan-College Station.

Thompson noted this authorization is only the first step in a decades-long process of building out I-14. Supporters must now shift to working to win funding for planning and construction of projects on the corridor, work that must be done with Congress, the U.S. Department of Transportation and the departments of transportation in each of the states along the I-14 corridor which are responsible for building highway infrastructure, he said. 

In 2015, Congress designated the Central Texas Corridor as future Interstate 14. The first 25-mile section of the Interstate 14 highway, connecting Fort Hood and Killeen to Interstate 35 at Belton, was added to the Interstate Highway System in 2017.

Thompson pointed out that completing the interstate linkage between a dozen military facilities across five states will add to the military value of each of these installations. Upgrading existing highways and spurs will provide greater freight movement efficiency in each state and nationally. It will add much needed additional roadway capacity parallel to I-10 and I-20 across each of the five states.

I-14 will also provide important natural disaster evacuation capacity along the Gulf Coast and a high elevation alternative to I-10 which is periodically damaged and out of service by hurricanes, flooding and maritime events. I-14/Gulf Coast Strategic Highway Coalition 3.

The I-14 corridor in almost all cases follows and would be an upgrade of existing highways.

Starting in West Texas, the corridor follows SH 158 and US 87 from Midland to San Angelo and Brady then runs east on US 190 to tie into the existing section of I-14 at Killeen.

It then generally follows US 190 to East Texas, crossing the Sabine River near Fort Polk at Leesville, Louisiana. In Louisiana, the corridor generally follows LA 28 connecting Leesville, Alexandria and Vidalia.

In Mississippi, the corridor starts at Natchez and runs east following US 84 to Laurel. It runs concurrently on I-59 to Meridian and then generally follows US 80 to Montgomery, Alabama; Columbus, Georgia; and Fort Benning, Georgia.

From there it follows existing routes to Warner Robins, Macon, Fort Gordon and Augusta in Georgia.

Spur routes connect to I-10 in West Texas, at Beaumont, Texas, and at Gulfport, Mississippi.