Columbus High grad forms youth coalition to promote Interstate 14 project

The campaign to bring Interstate 14 to the Chattahoochee Valley has crossed state lines.

Frank Lumpkin IV, the 19-year-old pushing the project, recently formed the Youth Infrastructure Coalition to help promote the project.

On Jan. 2, one of the members — Justus Armstrong, an Auburn University freshman from Phenix City — pitched the I-14 idea to Phenix City Council, which agreed to draft a resolution supporting the project, Armstrong said.

Lumpkin said another coalition member, Madison Drummond of Augusta, will make a similar presentation soon to that city council.

Carsen Storey, an Auburn University freshman from Phenix City, is also part of the group. She has been working on getting buy-in from the Greater Columbus Chamber of Commerce.

Lumpkin, Armstrong and Storey recently graduated from Youth Leadership Columbus.

Lumpkin first proposed the idea in October at a Columbus Council meeting, where he asked councilors to pass a resolution supporting the idea and to submit it to the proper state and federal officials. Later, at that meeting, councilors added the project to the city’s 2018 state legislative agenda with a unanimous vote.

“... We hereby respectfully request that the local legislative delegation to the Georgia General Assembly support an extension of I-14 to and through Columbus, Georgia and take any appropriate legislative action concerning this highway extension,” the Columbus resolution reads.

Armstrong said he plans to share the resolution with Phenix City Council so they can consider similar language.

Since obtaining Columbus Council approval, Lumpkin — a 2017 Columbus High School graduate now enrolled at the University of Georgia — has been meeting with state officials trying to get their support.

On Dec. 4, he briefed Department of Transportation Commissioner Russell McMurry and State Rep. Sam Wellborn at a DOT Leaders Luncheon, he said.

Now, the coalition has two objectives — reaching the masses through social media and publicity, and selling the idea to state and national elected officials.

“Federal legislation is extremely important right now because, of course, infrastructure is the next item on the agenda,” he explained.

I-14 is a major interstate that will run from Meridian, Texas, to Augusta. The Texas piece has already been designated by Congress and is currently being built in segments, Lumpkin said. The first 25-mile stretch officially opened on Jan. 26, 2017, near Killeen, Texas, and Fort Hood.

Lumpkin wants the interstate to run along JR Allen Parkway, a road that’s already built to interstate standards.

He believes it will spur economic development and bring prosperity to the area, connecting military installations along the way.

“I mean, this interstate will transform Columbus in so many different ways, and it just truly needs to happen,” he said. “But it’s only going to happen if everyone throws their weight behind it.”

This story was originally published January 5, 2018 at 4:30 PM with the headline "Columbus High grad forms youth coalition to promote Interstate 14 project."