Businesses Near Tupelo, Miss., Airport Wary of Runway Plans

By Dennis Seid, Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, Tupelo, Miss.

Aug. 4–TUPELO — Businesses along West Jackson Street have mixed feelings about the need for Tupelo Regional Airport to extend its runway.

Airport officials say their plan to lengthen the runway from 6,500 feet to 8,000 feet is necessary to attract business. But doing so will mean relocating West Jackson Street Extended.

City leaders will vote next month on the plan to permanently close the street and reroute roughly 7,300 motorists who travel that path every day, and some business owners are reluctant to get behind the project unless the details are clearer.

“It’s the craziest thing they’ve ever done,” said Ricky Clowers, owner of Custom Care Cleaners, which sits at the corner of Air Park Road and West Jackson. “They widened Main and they widened Coley, but traffic hasn’t gotten any better. What makes them think that closing West Jackson is going to help? It’s going to hurt all the businesses along here.

“It’s just a bad idea.”

Hope Hilliard, who owns Wildwood Child Care and Learning Center next to Custom Care, said shutting down the road would hurt her business.

“We have a lot of people all along Jackson who drop off and pick up their kids here,” she said. “If the road is closed, a lot of them would have to drive around, or they might choose not to do that. I don’t know what the city and airport are going to do.”

But the airport says the proposed project won’t mean closing West Jackson; rather, it means relocating the road.

“The operative word is ‘relocation,’” said Tupelo Regional Airport Executive Director Terry Anderson. “With West Jackson Extended relocated to the appropriate place, there should be minimal impact to business. The Tupelo Airport Authority is sensitive to those businesses, especially the ones that require ease of access to the Interstate road system. The relocation must accommodate those businesses.”

BancorpSouth has some 700 employees on its Jackson Street Campus, and CEO Aubrey Patterson said the company hopes that officials will find a solution.

“Obviously, our airport facilities are an important component of the infrastructure needed for future growth and prosperity for the region,” Patterson said. “The present lengthened and widened runway, instrument landing system, tower and terminal represent a series of major investments made over the years to accommodate growth. The decision facing us now is another step in that process.”

Lengthening the runway “is clearly and fundamentally a good thing,” Patterson said, “and we can’t now walk away from those years of significant investment in the airport’s facilities. On the other hand, inconveniencing our citizens is certainly undesirable.”

The airport completed a $4.8 million terminal renovation and expansion project last year. Last month it started a $5.4 million runway widening and strengthening project that should be done in about six months.

The lengthening project, which is estimated to cost about $9 million wouldn’t begin for at least nine to 12 months.

Renasant Bank’s Technology Center has about 150 employees who also would be affected by a change to West Jackson Street Extended.

Renasant CEO Robin McGraw, like his counterpart at BancorpSouth, supports an expanded runway. And he also says some kind of solution must be developed.

“There must be some viable option to replace West Jackson Extended if it is shut down. It’s an important thoroughfare for many Tupelo businesses and citizens, thus a solution must be found that keeps this major artery available in some manner.”

Need something solid Jim Wiygul, president of Independent Furniture Supply, is a firm believer in economic development and the role the airport plays.

But without a clear plan for how West Jackson will be rerouted, Wiygul said he can’t support the plan to extend the runway.

“Just the other day, I counted 68 trucks — we’re talking 18-wheelers — leaving our facilities, going on West Jackson Extended and then turning left or right onto Coley and going on to their destination. That’s not counting the trucks coming from other businesses coming to see us and taking that same route.”

West Jackson Street Extended is a crucial link for the 30-year-old company, and any closure — temporary or not — is not acceptable, Wiygul said.

“We simply can’t send that amount and that type of traffic back the other way,” he said. “We can’t do that to the residents or the other businesses.”

A definitive plan for the rerouting of the road has to be in place, Wiygul said.

“There can’t be any ‘we think’ or ‘we’d like to,’” he said. “They need to say ‘we’re going to cut across here and do this. It has to be this way.”

The airport authority, along with the Federal Aviation Administration, says all options are available in rerouting West Jackson. There has been talk of building a tunnel for the road, but that choice would be very expensive. Moving West Jackson further north is another option, although doing so would mean cutting across the Buffalo Park and Zoo. Another option is improving Colonial Estates Road since it connects to McCullough Boulevard.

The airport could also lengthen the runway only 7,500 feet rather than 8,000 feet. Still, any lengthening will require rerouting West Jackson, according to FAA guidelines.

Of course, the airport could just drop its plans to expand the runway.

But that’s a choice Anderson would rather avoid.

“Without the increase in runway length, the airport will continue to serve our citizens, albeit with any growth potential,” he said.

“Toyota can use Memphis or Golden Triangle, when their expansion is complete. Passengers can continue to drive to Memphis, Birmingham or Columbus for air service and charters will continue to be limited in aircraft size and capability.”

“Tupelo Regional’s impact on future economic development will be severely limited,” he said.

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Copyright (c) 2008, Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, Tupelo, Miss.

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