The Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway was criticized as an expensive boondoggle before it opened 24 years ago. Costing $2 billion to construct, this 234-mile, partially man-made, navigable waterway that connects the waters of 17 states is now fulfilling its original promise by producing jobs, wages, economic growth and recreational opportunities in a traditionally job-poor region of the South. Between 1996 and 2008 the Tenn-Tom has resulted in:

·         More than 29,000 direct jobs created in the region,

·         More than $7 billion in total labor income from new jobs,

·         Over $2.8 billion in total tax revenues, and

·         A total of more than $40 billion in overall economic impact to the nation.

There are two important drivers of recent economic investment along the Waterway.

1.       The increasing presence of automobile and other manufacturing in the region is attracting steel companies from around the world because of the access to highly cost-effective water transportation near new plants.  In the past five years steel companies have invested more than $5 billion along the Tenn-Tom.  At a cost of over $3.5 billion, the ThyssenKrupp project in Mobile, Alabama is thought to be the largest private investment in the nation’s history.

2.       In 2008, Mobile, the nation’s 10^th largest port, opened a container terminal capable of handling the anticipated increase in container traffic when the expanded Panama Canal opens in 2014.  The Denmark based Maersk Group recently announced it will make weekly calls at the port and alone will bring in up to 18,000 containers annually.  The increase in container shipping, these new Mobile facilities, the Tenn-Tom, and the existence of major east-west rail capacity in the region are an attractive combination for attracting new economic investment to the mid-south area.   

The Tenn-Tom is a good example of multi-state cooperation with the federal government as well. I sit on the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway Development Authority, as a Tennessee representative on this four state compact ratified by Congress to help promote the development of the waterway.  Kentucky, Alabama and Mississippi are the other three states.

These types of huge infrastructure projects are few and far between in the U.S. The most important things about this one are worth noting.  Unlike a lot of what passes for economic development, the Tenn-Tom represents long range public investment for the good of an entire region.  There was no industrial plant waiting to locate along its length when it was legislated (1958), funded and built.  It was done out of faith that, in time, it would help revitalize a job poor area. These were public dollars spent to invest in the future as a long range proposition, not for any short term or private gain.  And it was done with the recognition that state and city boundaries don’t necessarily matter when it comes to improving quality of life.  As a nation we would do well to keep the lessons of this kind of thinking in front of us.