[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2735 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







108th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2735

   To require a study and report regarding the designation of a new 
    interstate route from Augusta, Georgia to Natchez, Mississippi.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 22, 2004

  Mr. Miller (for himself and Mr. Chambliss) introduced the following 
bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment 
                            and Public Works

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To require a study and report regarding the designation of a new 
    interstate route from Augusta, Georgia to Natchez, Mississippi.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``14th Amendment Interstate Highway 
Initiation Act''.

SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    It is the sense of Congress that--
            (1) the 11-State region in the Southeast that has been 
        known historically as the ``Southern Black Belt'' is, as of 
        2004, in need of the same regional economic development plans 
        as the plans modeled by the Appalachian Regional Commission in 
        1965;
            (2) the Southern Black Belt has an African-American 
        population that is twice the national average, because of 
        historic population concentrations dating to the pre-
        Emancipation period;
            (3) Congress passed and the States ratified the 14th 
        Amendment to the Constitution in 1868, guaranteeing equal 
        rights to all persons in the United States, including those 
        formerly held in involuntary servitude, largely with the 
        protection and economic advancement of the residents of that 
        region in mind;
            (4) despite the 14th Amendment, that region and the 
        residents of that region, particularly the descendants of freed 
        slaves, remain characterized by low employment, low incomes, 
        low education levels, poor health, and high infant mortality;
            (5) Congress recognizes the studies, findings, and 
        recommendations on the problems of the Southern Black Belt by 
        the University of Georgia, Tuskegee Institute, North Carolina 
        State University, and the University of Kentucky;
            (6) disparity in transportation infrastructure investment 
        has been a key contributing factor to the persistent poverty 
        and social ills of that region;
            (7) the lack of adequate east-west interstate highway 
        access has--
                    (A) provided a significant impediment to travel 
                throughout the region;
                    (B) served as a severe obstacle to the attraction 
                of industry and jobs; and
                    (C) been a detriment to public health and 
                transportation safety;
            (8) a new interstate highway designated ``United States 
        Interstate 14'' should be constructed through the heart of the 
        Southern Black Belt, linking Augusta, Georgia to Natchez, 
        Mississippi, and following a route generally defined through 
        Macon and Columbus, Georgia, Montgomery, Alabama, and Laurel 
        and Natchez, Mississippi; and
            (9) in light of the promise of economic parity made by the 
        United States to that region in the 14th Amendment, that new 
        interstate highway should be known as the ``14th Amendment 
        Highway''.

SEC. 3. STUDY AND REPORT.

    Not later than December 31, 2004, the Secretary of Transportation 
shall complete a study and submit to the appropriate committees of 
Congress a report that describes the steps and estimated funding 
necessary to construct a new interstate route to be designated as 
``Interstate Route I-14'' and known as the 14th Amendment Highway, from 
Augusta, Georgia to Natchez, Mississippi (formerly designated the Fall 
Line Freeway in the State of Georgia).
                                 <all>