A MS House Bill Could Mean Economic Growth For Louisville

LOUISVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) – The Mississippi House recently passed a bill that could mean big things for Louisville and Winston County.

House Bill 1564 could help the city construct an industrial access road.

The bill would help the city, as well as current and future industry.

The multi-million dollar project would cover transportation infrastructure and lead to economic development.

Now, city leaders are hoping the bill makes it to the finish line.

This is more than just a dirt road.

You’re looking at what could be a future spot filled with opportunities.

“We’ve had an infrastructure need here, in the community, for quite sometime, post tornado, which it seems like all topics here stem from the tornado, but it goes hand in hand with Winston Plywood, our future industrial growth, public utility need, and is this idea that we’ve had with publicly controlled property on the south end of Louisville to make it much more efficient,” says Louisville Mayor Will Hill.

The mayor says the industrial access road would be an ideal route for log traffic coming into town.

“From a public safety standpoint, it reroutes a lot of the traffic from the downtown area and also what I consider, it routes traffic away from lower, moderate incomes, to basically more truck routes that would be beneficial to the city, to the county, and as well as, to all of the vehicle transportation,” says Winston County Economic Development Partnership Executive Director, Glen Haab.

The $3-million dollar project would be more than just a road for log trucks, but a road surrounded by possible industrial growth.

“We have ample acreage that we’ve acquired to create a new industrial park. We have our water treatment facility and lagoon that it accesses. It crosses the railroad, which makes it that much more enticing for industrial development, and it also, the entrance way is right by a county industrial facility, which has an opportunity for new construction,” says the mayor.

“Anytime you have infrastructure improvements, you have an opportunity to attract, not only expansion opportunities, but also for new recruitment activities that are going on there. The city does own some property over there, it’s in public control, so that just helps us in regards to marketing Louisville, to attract and help to keep the jobs that we do have,” says Haab.

The bill has not made it to the Senate yet.

Mayor Hill says he commends Representative Joey Hood for all of the work he has done for the city.