Leaders meet to discuss Highway 411 widening

Staff Reports

CENTRE — Cherokee County is one of the few places in Alabama without a four-lane road to connect it to surrounding counties. Last week, a group of local government and business leaders got together in Centre to try and figure out a way to widen one main thoroughfare as far as Cave Spring, Ga.

Cherokee County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Thereasa Hulgan hosted a meeting of around 50 local officials, as well as officials from Georgia on Jan. 15. Up for discussion was the four-laning of U.S. Highway 411 from Gadsden to Atlanta.

The highway, which extends from Birmingham towards Atlanta before turning north and heading into Tennessee’s Great Smoky Mountains, is already four lanes wide for much of its length – with the notable exception of its 27-mile run through Cherokee County.

“We really want to get the word about four-laning Highway 411 from east Centre to the four-lane north of Cave Spring (Ga.),” Hulgan said. “It’s not a big distance but I know it does involve a lot of landowners.”

Hulgan said Gov. Bob Riley has expressed support for the project and suggested contacting Alabama Dept. of Transportation (DOT) Director Joe McInnes to keep him apprised of future developments. McInnes visited Cherokee County last month and spoke of the importance of continuing to expand U.S. 411.

“(McInnes) felt like Cherokee County and surrounding areas … are in a growth period,” Hulgan said. “I believe he will be on board for us.”

Hulgan said the DOT has already been working on the east end of the Chesnut (411) Bypass, which will allow truck traffic to drive around downtown Centre.

Hulgan also cited the recent expansion of Pemco Industries in Leesburg and the increased truck traffic from the company’s manufacturing plant there as a reason for the need to expand U.S. 411 out of Cherokee County.

“They truck their finished product back to the port of Savannah, Ga.,” Hulgan said. “And they ship all over the world, even to China.”

She said Pemco officials, along with officials at Weiss Lake Egg Co., KTH-Leesburg and American Apparel, have sent letters to various state and federal agencies asking for their support in expanding the highway to four lanes throughout Cherokee County.

State Rep. Richard Lindsey, D-Centre, who attended the meeting, said he supports widening the highway.

“I think it is our desire here in Cherokee County to work towards four-laning the rest of 411 from Centre to the Georgia state line,” he said.

Plans are already underway to add two additional lanes to a section of U.S. 411 that extends from Gadsden to the Turkeytown community in Etowah County. State Sen. Larry Means said funds to four-lane the roadway from Turkeytown to Leesburg have not yet been made available.

“One problem we have … is that they keep taking away (federal highway funding) for the Iraq war,” Means said. “When you're talking about roads, they don't do them overnight. It will take years, but we've got to start somewhere.”

Hulgan also mentioned the importance of working with Floyd County, Ga., officials. Several attended the meeting in Centre and expressed their support for the project.

“There seems to be some interest in doing this project,” said David Doss of the Georgia Department of Transportation. “But funding is going to be hard to come by.”