The vision and leadership of many in the private sector business community of the Delta region have been very significant to the emergence of the region over the past 5 years as a full partner in the national economy. The many natural resources of the region have been tapped and used in more efficient and innovative ways. The improved highway system and intermodal transportation terminals have been put to work for commercial enterprise in new, more productive ways.

This has helped lead to an increase in the quality of service and competitiveness of Delta-based corporations. More of them have risen to national and international prominence, at the same time that an unparalleled number of national leaders have also emerged from the Delta region, including both the current president and vice president of the United States.

The perspective of these public and private sector leaders has mirrored the long-held view that transportation investment and, in particular, highway investment are vitally important factors in boosting economic expansion and job creation. Predictable and reliable delivery is essential to retail, industrial, and agricultural businesses and to the efficient use of trucking for just-in-time delivery. An improved highway system, connected to an efficient national and international intermodal system, provides that critical linkage. This linkage is vital to efficient operation of the major port authorities, airports, and the rail and air freight lines of the region.

Private sector leaders have repeatedly and consistently cited the beneficial connection between transportation investment and business expansion. This connection was strongly expressed by business and academic representatives at a conference, coordinated by the Lower Mississippi Delta Development Center, in September 1995 at Memphis, Tenn., to discuss regional transportation investments and the gain of 252,000 jobs from 1990 to 1995. Particular attention was given to the 42 counties and parishes in the region in which job growth during this period was greater than 15 percent, which is more than twice the national average.

The consensus of these corporate and academic experts was that without highway improvements made after 1990, a substantial number of jobs would simply not exist in 1995. Of those that would have been created without highway improvements, there was a consensus among the experts that many might have been lost to international competitors.

Success: By the People, For the People

Each of the seven Delta region states has pursued implementation of the Delta Initiatives transportation-related recommendations in ways that are unique to the needs and circumstances in that state. While the economies of the states in the region have much in common, the nature of each state's particular economy is different, affecting its transportation priorities.

Implementation has consequently been guided by factors such as a constitutional amendment related to a Transportation Trust Fund in Louisiana, state legislation in Mississippi and Tennessee that addresses transportation, and a public referendum in Missouri resulting in a gasoline tax increase to support accelerated highway improvements. Similarly, transportation programs have been tailored to support special circumstances, such as accommodating the three high-priority corridors that pass through Arkansas, special bridge needs in Illinois, and legislative approval of the six -year highway plan in Kentucky.

"Think of each other as allies, not as competitors ... (and) we will gain an advantage that will be with us for centuries."

- Lt. Gov. Buddy MacKay of Florida, at a meeting of Southern transportation officials in August 1995

Among the most notable successes of the seven states are:

• The cooperative effort of all the states in the Delta region in the more than 4800-km road network known as the Great River Road.

• Conversion of a closed military base to civilian use and substantial job growth despite the loss of the base, substantially due to improvements in highway access.

• Five adjacent counties with job growth exceeding 15 percent, highlighting a sustained period of a state program to widen major arterials from two to four lanes.

• A three-county regional economy where jobs and markets interact, facilitated by recent state-funded highway improvements that include both lane widening and new two-lane facilities.

• A county, which has about an 800-percent increase in local tax revenue and more jobs than population, that in collaboration with the state, is vigorously investing much of that revenue in improved highway access.

• A county, that in cooperation with the state, has geared transportation improvements specifically to support tourism and trade.

• A county, whose economic base in 1990 was small business agriculture and a military base, together with the state invested heavily in improved highways. The county is now home to a high-tech international steel company and is enjoying sustained economic growth despite closure of the military base.

The tie between the provision of improved transportation and success in the critical task of economic development is obvious in all these examples and in many more success stories.

Bridges: The Most Critical Link

In this region, it is almost impossible to overestimate the importance of the major bridges. These transportation resources link people, employers, goods, markets, and services at critical points and in essential ways. When these resources are unavailable for example, during flooding along the Mississippi River in 1993, which literally washed away bridges and bridge access facilities in the northern part of the Delta lives, jobs, and businesses are lost.

FHWA has completed several types of assessments of these vital transportation resources. These assessments show that while enormous needs still exist, bridge deficiencies have been dramatically reduced. Specifically, from September 1990 to June 1995, the number of deficient bridges in the seven states has decreased from 20,226 to 13,474.

Many Important Initiatives Are Under Way

An impressive range of highway improvement and other transportation-related initiatives are currently under way in the region. Some are part of larger national efforts, but many have their roots in the recommendations contained in the 1990 report.

Such initiatives are logically grouped in three interrelated and sometimes overlapping areas: economic development, tourism, and resources. In all three areas, the initiatives embody exciting prospects for the future with great potential impact throughout the Delta region in terms of sustained economic growth and increased employment, which, in turn, can lead to an improved standard of living for Delta residents.

Among the most significant of these initiatives is the feasibility study for high-priority Corridor 18. This corridor has far-reaching national, as well as regional, implications. Running from Indianapolis via Evansville, Memphis, and Shreveport to Houston and beyond to the lower Rio Grande Valley , the corridor will effectively link a center of the global energy services industry with our nation's mid-western industrial belt. The potential to expand international trade is tremendous. The economic benefits for our country's future, in an increasingly competitive global economy, are obvious and substantial.

Another new initiative focuses on Enterprise Communities (ECs) and Empowerment Zones (EZs). Late in 1994, President Clinton announced both the rural and urban areas of the country to be designated as ECs and EZs. The Delta region contains five urban ECs and seven rural ECs, as well as one rural EZ containing portions of six Mississippi counties. These designations are very significant in terms of meeting the objectives of the 1990 report because each EC designation carries with it a $3 million federal block grant for social services $40 million in the case of an EZ designation plus certain incentives and credits for qualified employers.

There is broad flexibility for applying these federal block grants to a wide variety of eligible activities, including a number related to transportation. These include funding development of local plans for highways, ports, airports, and other transit facilities. Funds can also be applied in various ways to assist designated ECs in acquiring permits for grants, applying for new grants, and modifying ongoing grant agreements to better coordinate transportation with education, housing, and other programs. The key to effectively applying this new funding is close coordination between state transportation agencies and local officials, private sector representatives, and community leaders.

Another important initiative affecting the region is JOBLINKS, a Federal Transit Administration program to support and coordinate activities in EC/EZ and non-EC/EZ rural areas.

Yet another major initiative includes the transportation-related aspects of the National Rural Development Partnership. This initiative, begun by President Bush and formerly known as the President's Initiative on Rural America, was expanded under President Clinton. It now operates under a steering council chaired by Vice President Gore.

Other initiatives include the Department of Agriculture's Rural Business Enterprise Grant Program and the Arkansas-Mississippi Rural Port Study, partially funded by FHWA.

Initiatives involving transportation and tourism are widespread in the Delta region. Naturally, improvements in the public transportation infrastructure, particularly highways, boost tourism. This is certainly true in the Delta region, and the transportation enhancements funded under ISTEA have, in many cases, supported efforts to link transportation and tourism in a systematic way. Regionally generated efforts in transportation and tourism range from an innovative "back roads" bicycling corridor to Native American and African American heritage routes. The potential economic benefits of increased tourism facilitated by transportation improvements are great, and its direct benefits in terms of job creation and local revenue generation are already being realized in many parts of the Delta region. Moreover, a significant contingent of tourism experts from the region recently participated in the White House Conference on Tourism and Travel. They told the story of the rich cultural heritage history and tourism opportunities of the Delta region.

Resource-related initiatives are also abundant. They range from the activities of a private foundation working to study and protect the Delta ecosystem and improve resource management (including transportation) in the Mississippi Valley to a group of federal agencies now coordinating Geographic Information System spacial data regarding the lower Mississippi alluvial valley.

The Findings Are Encouraging

The 1995 update to the 1990 Delta Initiatives Report has found much to be encouraged about in surveying the intervening five years. Most of those recommendations are being implemented, and some are nearly completed. Job creation and employment were primary concerns, and the update has found that job growth in the Delta region has clearly outperformed the rest of the nation on a percentage basis since 1990.

While not all of the commission's final recommendations have been fully implemented, the states of the region have dedicated substantial attention and funding to improving the general level of transportation, adding capacity to NHS routes, and improving connections to intermodal terminals. State, county, parish, and municipal agencies have made particularly noticeable progress in transportation improvements and in coordinating these enhancements with the needs of the local economy. Measurable economic progress has been the result.

While the update does not recommend establishing any new commission or other entity, it does point to the considerable benefits of supporting and strengthening existing institutions. Planning and coordination are the keys to continued progress for the Delta region. These elements, which facilitate project planning and implementation, should continue to be improved.

Positive Focus for the Future

The central story of this update report is the powerful connection between transportation improvement and economic growth, as demonstrated by the striking progress achieved by the Delta region since 1990 when it was referred to as the "Third World on the Mississippi."

FHWA will use the information from this update in developing reauthorization and other legislative proposals to fund transportation improvements across the nation. The information also will be made available to other agencies and organizations: transportation and non-transportation, government and non-government, academic and private sector, Delta region and outside the region. It is intended that they use the lessons of economic development and employment growth in their own arenas of legislation, research, enterprise, and public opinion.

Current and future FHWA programs will benefit from careful consideration of the findings of this update. It will help support FHWA in its efforts to be an information and technical resource agency whenever possible.

FHWA will continue its support and funding for many initiatives and research efforts related to economic development in the Delta region as it relates to highway investments. State transportation agencies in the region have generally agreed to "put this update to work" on the state level in much the same way that FHWA proposes to use it at the national level. Working together in this way, this update can become a critical tool for facilitating and coordinating transportation, regional planning, and economic development programs throughout the region.

"A lot of people are going to be surprised when they realize the extent to which we are succeeding."
- Lt. Gov. Buddy MacKay of Florida, at a meeting of Southern transportation officials in August 1995

Considerable progress has been made. It is there to see in the success stories from every state in the Delta region. There are more and better roads, improved intermodal connections, and, as a direct result, more jobs and improved prospects for long-term economic prosperity in a long depressed area of our country.

"I can picture that to myself now ... drowsing in the sunshine of a summer's morning ... the great Mississippi, the majestic, the magnificent Mississippi, rolling its mile-wide tide along, shining in the sun."
- Mark Twain, Life on the Mississippi, 1883"

"The people came down the river and stopped in the Delta because of the richness of the soil and the ease with which you could make a living."
- Shelby Foote, Conversations with Shelby Foote edited by William C. Carter, 1987