Sunday, January 20, 2008

Widened Highway 43 South to Officially Open

Tennessee Department of Transportation Commissioner Gerald F. Nicely will be in Lawrence County next week to cut the ribbon and officially open the newly widened Highway 43 south.

A grand opening of the highway’s stretch from Loretto to Saint Joseph has been scheduled for Thursday, January 24. Commissioner Nicely and other state officials will attend to help local community and business leaders celebrate the road’s completion.

The span from Loretto to the state line is one of the final legs of improvements which are creating a four and five-laned Highway 43 from the north end of Lawrence County to the state line in the south.  Work on widening Highway 43 from Fourth Street to Taylor Street in Lawrenceburg is expected to be complete by late spring.

County Executive Paul Rosson said the improvements to Highway 43 are a major economic and transportation accomplishment for our county.  “This basically gives us a rural interstate highway to help attract jobs,” Rosson said.

Saint Joseph Mayor Michael Kelley and Loretto Mayor Ronnie McMasters share the expectation that the newly widened highway will be an economic boost.  “The infrastructure improvement is monumental to the City of Saint Joseph”, Kelley said. Neighboring Mayor McMasters added, “The tourist and business traffic from the Shoals area are pluses for the City of Loretto.”

 

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