A parade greeted officials and guests at a ribbon cutting celebrating the West County Line Road expansion in Jackson. West County line was a dead end. Now it meets East County Line Road providing a straight path from Tougaloo College to I-55. Primus Wheeler is on the Board of Trustees and talks about what it’s been like over the years.
“Only development and prosperity happened on the east and the west became very disinvested. This equalizes. The challenge now is for us to get the same kind of investments and development on this side of the track that they have on the other side of the track,” Wheeler said.
Second District Congressman Bennie Thompson, who graduated from the college, says it was in 1998 they created an economic development corporation to break through the infrastructure gridlock.
“It took two different projects coupled together to make it work. We had to work through the railroad to get the underpass project worked out. Some projects take a little longer. This was one but now we’re here and we’re moving forward,” Thompson said.
Dr. Beverly Hogan President Emerita says over her 17 year tenure at the college, the project stayed on her agenda.
“This needs to be the destination place, not a pass through. We need to see development so that we can continue to provide the great education that has been so traditional at Tougaloo College,” Hogan said.
Officials say the potential for economic development is good with Entergy, the FBI and the department of employment security all having offices on or near West County Line Road.
