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EISENHOWER
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- - Macon, Georgia , USA - - This page provides a summary of many issues concerning a road project commonly called the Eisenhower
Parkway
Extension
by Sylvia Flowers,
US National Park Service, Master Ranger, (retired)
Background: Shortly after the city of Macon was established in the 1820’s, its founders passed a law setting aside the lands south of 7th Street to be used for the “health and recreation” of the city’s citizens. Much of that land is still undeveloped. Lack of growth in the area, much of which is now behind the Macon Levee, indicates the wisdom of not building here. In 1986, other ideas for use of the area emerged.
1/19/86: "He (Tom Moreland, (web-info) Commissioner, GA Dept of Transportation) wants to extend the Eisenhower Parkway, with us (General Assembly) paying for it," said (House Speaker Tom) Murphy after taking a look at the route and stating his opposition... How the DOT came up with a (Fall Line Freeway) route different than the two that had been under consideration last month was a puzzle to many legislators, who were caught off guard. (Macon Telegraph article)
NOTE: Shortly afterward, Mr. Moreland left the GDOT and his company, Moreland-Altobelli was contracted to oversee Macon’s roads program.
Newspaper articles, minutes to meetings, and the publicly announced reason for annexing the land behind the Macon Levee, South of Central City Park, into the city, along with an on-going effort to justify raising the Macon Levee, indicate that the major purpose for the proposed Eisenhower Parkway Extension is to develop the large "vacant" floodplain acreage behind the levee.
2/2/94: The Macon City Council wants to annex land along the proposed route of the Fall Line Freeway (through the floodplain behind the Macon Levee)... "It's not even a little bit of a gamble" to annex this land, council President David Carter said. "People are already grabbing up the property. It'll be developed with anything from filling stations to restaurants to whatever." (Macon Telegraph article)
NOTE: When the Trust for Public Land announced its intentions to purchase the Madelyn Van Dyke property, located immediately behind the levee in the route of formerly preferred Alternative A-1 (now designated Alternative D), the Macon Water Authority condemned and acquired the tract, ostensibly to use for a field on which to spread sewage sludge - though the land is adjacent to the 1994 levee breach.
The Eisenhower Parkway currently extends to 7th Street and there is a wonderful opportunity to develop/redevelop the blighted 7th Street Industrial brownfields located above the 100-year floodplain in the Eisenhower Parkway Extension study area, while still preserving the floodplain behind the levee on the west side of the river, which is now encompassed by the Ocmulgee Old Fields TCP, and the wetland corridor connecting Ocmulgee National Monument to Bond Swamp National Wildlife Refuge on the east side of the river. This would be in keeping with the ideals of Macon’s “founding fathers.” Nevertheless, the Georgia Department of Transportation’s multiple Environmental Impact Studies of alternative routes for the Eisenhower Parkway Extension through this area have continued for many years.
1/8/99: On Tuesday, the Bibb County Road Improvement Program pulled out a revolver and shot itself in the foot - again... It seems our roads program is more concerned about how much concrete it can pour than with the wishes of the citizens... It's a Bibb County taboo to look at what effect something will have 10 or 20 years down the (pardon the pun) road. So we end up spending money just because we have it, not because of real need. (Macon Telegraph editorial)
1. Overall Environmental Impacts: All of the proposed Eisenhower Parkway Extension alternatives that bisect the TCP will also impact one or both units of Ocmulgee National Monument, as well as the Scott-McCall Archaeological Preserve. I-16 has had an immense negative impact on Ocmulgee National Monument aesthetics and its cultural and natural resources. Adding another raised, four-lane highway and/or interchange between or near the two units of the National Monument would compound the adverse effects. Most of the build alternatives have significant adverse effects on the 4(f) Traditional Cultural Property and this intrusion is a clear environmental justice impact upon Native American people.
Other areas of controversy involve its adverse effects to Browns Mount, Bond Swamp NWR, the Ocmulgee River Heritage Greenway, other historic properties/districts; also, raising the Macon Levee, flooding, floodplain development, jurisdictional wetlands, habitat fragmentation, endangered species, and neotropical/migratory birds.
The USFWS considered portions of the routes environmentally important enough to include them in future expansion plans.
9/17/98: He (Bibb County Commission Chairman Larry Justice) told the Macon Area Transportation Study's policy committee Wednesday that the county just sent a letter to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service asking that it not expand Bond Swamp National Wildlife Refuge to the north until a federal study of the (Fall Line) freeway is complete. Ironically, the refuge's proposed northern expansion includes 250 acres that the county offered in 1996 as leverage to secure a $1 million federal grant to buy land for the expansion when it was first proposed. "By no means are we trying to throw a wet damper on this," Justice said of the (Bond Swamp) expansion and eventual inclusion into the Ocmulgee Heritage Greenway, a proposed nature park along the Ocmulgee. "...but, we are against anything that would serve as an impediment to the Eisenhower Parkway Extension." ... Unlike the county, the city wrote a letter in complete support of the refuge's expansion... The Mayor (of Macon) and chairman also disagreed over mentioning that the Greenway is planned to be developed south of Macon, through land that could also be used for the Eisenhower Parkway Extension. At Justice's behest, the transportation committee passed a motion not to depict on maps of the proposed greenway any trees along the river a few miles south of Central City Park and toward Robins Air Force Base. He said he feared that any mention of eventual plans to build the greenway into Houston County could jeopardize the Eisenhower Parkway Extension. (Mayor) Marshall, on the other hand, said that omitting future plans for the greenway south of Macon would only hurt the credibility of the federal study of the Eisenhower Parkway Extension... Marshall said, "I don't think we ought to be in the business of kidding people." (Macon Telegraph article)
9/17/98: I would appreciate your consideration of the implications of the enclosed article (See above) for the 4(f) study of the route of the Fall Line Freeway through Macon. If the actions of Bibb County and the MATS Policy Committee are taken as in good faith and at face value, these actions must be considered as negative impacts of the GA DOT preferred route, the route that would bisect the Ocmulgee Old Fields... If the actions are not in good faith, that is, if the reporter and Mayor Marshall are correct in their apparent assessment of why these actions were taken, then we ask that you take appropriate measures against this scheme to knowingly misrepresent information in a matter within the jurisdiction of the agency in violation of 18 U.S.C. 1001. (Letter from Jack Sammons, Friends of Ocmulgee Old Fields, to Larry Dreihaup, FHWA)
2. Archaeology/History/Cultural Preservation: American Indians arrived in the area at least 12,000 years ago. Ocmulgee National Monument and the Ocmulgee Old Fields embody an unbroken sequence of human cultures from the Ice Age until today. No other area in the state has archaeological resources of greater national significance than the Ocmulgee River valley. The Keeper of the National Register of Historic Places reviewed the original DOE submission and concurred that much of the property that will be affected by most of the alternatives for this project was eligible for the National Register "under Criterion A, as a district of longstanding importance to traditional Muscogee (Creek) culture, and under Criterion D, as an area that has provided and can be expected to continue to provide important information on 10,000 years of prehistory and history"…
Most of the build alternatives traverse and would impact the Ocmulgee Old Fields TCP. Impacts would include direct, physical effects through placement of a roadway facility upon or above the ground surface. Visual and sound impacts would also occur. Unfortunately, it seems evident from drafts of the EPE Environmental Impact Studies and comments made over the years that GDOT would prefer to give the TCP no more preservation status than one of the 1920’s bungalows, which might be affected by the project.
A number of archaeological sites were discovered during surveys for the proposed alternatives, with several deemed eligible for inclusion on the National Register. As documented by archaeological salvage conducted in the floodplain at Ocmulgee National Monument prior to construction of I-16 through the park, as much as 12 feet of historic sedimentation cover much of the area near the river. Therefore, shovel tests conducted by GDOT's contractors during the corridor surveys for the current project were inadequate in some places. Because of the depth of sedimentation and because the GDOT’s archaeologists did no testing in areas of standing water, other sites also may not have been recorded.
The Swift Creek Village site is known to have occupied an area extending from the Bibb County Sheriff’s Firing Range to Adkins Mound, which once sat in the I-16/Ocmulgee East Boulevard interchange. While the site had been heavily damaged, it is likely that portions of it still exist in the undeveloped area between Ocmulgee East Boulevard and Confederate Packaging Company and would be affected by the E Alternatives.
Ocmulgee Old Fields sites, including 9Bi73 discovered during the corridor survey, and Lamar culture sites located in the areas between Browns Mount and Ocmulgee National Monument, prove that some these areas were often utilized for more than agricultural fields. The TCP is not just a series of archaeological sites, it is a "place" in the same sense as Gettysburg or Jerusalem. Furthermore, it is highly significant that the TCP be viewed as a "spiritual" resource of American Indian people. As such, the prospect of a high profile, high speed, multi-lane highway is not acceptable.
The educated judgement of the agdot study consultants cannot substitute for the traditions and expressed concerns of the affiliated Indian nations. The adverse effects cannot be quantified in terms of physically impacted acreage, since the TCP is as much a spiritual resource as it is a physical resource. It is not difficult to understand why the Indian Nations have to date not commented on mitigation strategies, since they have repeatedly said they do not want any alternative that traverses the TCP.
After 10,000 years or more of continuous occupation of this land, American Indians were forcibly removed from this area by the governments of the United States and the State of Georgia. Since the establishment of Ocmulgee National Monument in 1936, and especially after regaining their civil rights in the early 1960's, people of the Muscogee (Creek) Confederacy have made clear their lasting interest in their homeland by frequent visits to those portions of the TCP where visitation was possible.
9/15/92: When we look out over the Ocmulgee bottomlands from the top of Mound A (at Ocmulgee National Monument), we may think of the area as vacant because it has not been completely remade by us, but it isn't at all vacant. It contains a record of a crucial juncture in human history. That this record and public resource is not confined to the bounds of the Monument is already demonstrated by the existing archaeological record. (Letter to David Studstill, GDOT, from Dr. Stephen Kowalewski, Anthropology Department, Univ. Of GA)
12/7/95: It is both an inalienable right and a fundamental responsibility of a sovereign nation to protect and preserve the cultural and historical legacy of its people... Through forced removal, the Muscogee Nation has been denied the right to protect its historical sites, ceremonial and religious use areas... I believe that the Muscogee people and the citizens of Macon have common interests in the Fall Line region of the Ocmulgee River... We must work together to ensure that in the effort to develop economically, we preserve for our children what is truly most valuable to us... the irreplaceable land and the story that it contains. (Letter to Leon Larson, FWHA, from Principal Chief Bill Fife)
3/12/96: Representatives of the Creek Indian Muscogee Nation are expected to arrive Thursday in Macon, where business and political leaders will try to garner support for the Eisenhower Parkway Extension... Expenses for the Creeks will be paid by Bibb County government. "What we want and have asked them for is to rescind their opposition to the DOT alignment and pass a new resolution in support of it." (Larry) Justice said. (Macon Telegraph article)
6/7/96: I have recently learned of the Georgia Department of Transportation's proposed plan to develop the Fall-Line Freeway/Eisenhower Parkway Extension through a clearly identified section of the Ocmulgee Old Fields. In the course of an eight year planning process for the Fall-Line Freeway your agency has failed to enter into consultation with the Thlopthlocco Tribal Town as required by Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, the American Indian Religious Freedom Act, and the Archeological Resources Protection Act... I am requesting that the Georgia Department of Transportation provide my office with all design plans, maps, archeological reports, and other supporting documents relevant to the proposed development of the Fall-Line Freeway in Macon, Georgia... (Letter to Wayne Shackelford, GDOT, from Grace Bunner, Mekke, Thlopthlocco Tribal Town)
7/14/96: The preferred DOT route is one of 12 alternative routes that have been drawn up, but Justice said no other route is being serious considered. "We tried to inform the Muscogee Nation about the positives of this route," he said, "It's a radical, dissident bunch out there, so we're going to have to find a new direction." (Macon Telegraph article)
10/10/96: “If they (the Indians and other opponents of the Eisenhower Parkway Extension) don't give in, we'll just knock 'em down.” (From Transcript of National Public Radio interview with Emmett Barnes III, Macon developer)
3/31/97: The Muscogee (Creek) Nation's tribal council has twice voted overwhelmingly against approving a route for the Fall Line Freeway that passes through lands in Macon they consider sacred. But county officials figure they might be open to a deal anyway. Bibb County Commission Chairman Larry Justice said he "chatted" with Perry Beaver, the Creeks' principal chief, when Beaver was in town to serve as Grand Marshall of Macon's Cherry Blossom Festival... "My impression is that they want a place to sell Indian cultural items, crafts and that sort of thing," Justice said. "... If he could go back and get support, then we'll talk further." (Macon Telegraph article)
8/19/97: The designation of the area (the Ocmulgee Old Fields) -- which local and state officials want to bisect with the Fall Line Freeway - would be the first (National Register of Historic Places listing) in the Southeast for a "traditional cultural property" ...Dot is in the process of hiring consultants to perform environmental impact studies on all the proposed routes for the Fall Line Freeway. (Macon Telegraph article)
2/1/98: Why is this distinction between Fall Line and Eisenhower important? Because the federal government focused on this as a state improvement project, not a Macon improvement project. Yet, as if to pour gasoline on the fire, the DOT has a newsletter out that it labels "Eisenhower News" (Eisenhower Parkway Extension EIS and Location Studies) in which the progress of the Macon portion of the freeway is discussed... Meanwhile, DOT is supposed to project itself as a bunch of disinterested engineers. No wonder they have as credibility problem with citizens. (Macon Telegraph editorial)
9/17/98: He (Bibb County Commission Chairman Larry Justice) told the Macon Area Transportation Study's policy committee Wednesday that the county just sent a letter to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service asking that it not expand Bond Swamp National Wildlife Refuge to the north until a federal study of the (Fall Line) freeway is complete. Ironically, the refuge's proposed northern expansion includes 250 acres that the county offered in 1996 as leverage to secure a $1 million federal grant to buy land for the expansion when it was first proposed. "By no means are we trying to throw a wet damper on this," Justice said of the (Bond Swamp) expansion and eventual inclusion into the Ocmulgee Heritage Greenway, a proposed nature park along the Ocmulgee. "...but, we are against anything that would serve as an impediment to the Eisenhower Parkway Extension." ...
Unlike the county, the city wrote a letter in complete support of the refuge's expansion... The Mayor (of Macon) and chairman also disagreed over mentioning that the Greenway is planned to be developed south of Macon, through land that could also be used for the Eisenhower Parkway Extension. At Justice's behest, the transportation committee passed a motion not to depict on maps of the proposed greenway any trees along the river a few miles south of Central City Park and toward Robins Air Force Base. He said he feared that any mention of eventual plans to build the greenway into Houston County could jeopardize the Eisenhower Parkway Extension. (Mayor) Marshall, on the other hand, said that omitting future plans for the greenway south of Macon would only hurt the credibility of the federal study of the Eisenhower Parkway Extension... Marshall said, "I don't think we ought to be in the business of kidding people." (Macon Telegraph article)
9/17/98: I would appreciate your consideration of the implications of the enclosed article (See above) for the 4(f) study of the route of the Fall Line Freeway through Macon. If the actions of Bibb County and the MATS Policy Committee are taken as in good faith and at face value, these actions must be considered as negative impacts of the GA DOT preferred route, the route that would bisect the Ocmulgee Old Fields... If the actions are not in good faith, that is, if the reporter and Mayor Marshall are correct in their apparent assessment of why these actions were taken, then we ask that you take appropriate measures against this scheme to knowingly misrepresent information in a matter within the jurisdiction of the agency in violation of 18 U.S.C. 1001. (Letter from Jack Sammons, Friends of Ocmulgee Old Fields, to Larry Dreihaup, FHWA)
1/5/99: The state's transportation chief (Wayne Shackelford) told legislative budget writers Monday that he expects to win the battles over the controversial route of the Fall Line Freeway through Bibb County... He said the state transportation department could know within a few months whether it has proved to the federal government that the only feasible and prudent route for the freeway in Bibb County is along the Eisenhower Parkway Extension and through the Ocmulgee Old Fields, an area considered sacred by the Creek Indians. But Shackelford said he expects opponents of the freeway route to file a lawsuit once the federal government makes a decision. "We'll win the battle. We just may be a lot older," he told a joint session of the House and Senate appropriations committees. (Macon Telegraph article)
2/18/01: I must request that the Federal Highway Administration advise the Georgia Department of Transportation to expand the scope of the location study and to focus on development of routes that would avoid direct impact to the TCP. (Letter from Rebecca Torres, Chief, Alabama-Quassarte)
2/28/01: The Muscogee (Creek) Nation Tribal Resolution clearly opposes the construction of the Eisenhower Parkway Extension/Fall Line Freeway along any and all corridors which would bisect, encroach upon, or otherwise violate or threaten the integrity of the Muscogee Traditional Cultural Property. The Muscogee (Creek) Nation still stands firm on this opposition. (Letter From Wilbur Gouge, Speaker, Muscogee (Creek) National Council to Larry Dreihaup, FHWA. See ATTACHMENT # 9.)
3. Wetlands: The Walnut Creek/Boggy Branch/Swift Creek wetlands form a continuous corridor along the river, connecting Ocmulgee National Monument with Bond Swamp National Wildlife Refuge downstream. These wetlands, with their terraces and adjacent uplands, provide habitat and forage for a wide variety of wildlife, including several endangered species and neotropical/migratory birds.
These wetlands, including the already polluted Walnut Creek watershed, will be degraded during construction by siltation, tree cutting, clearing of undergrowth, equipment pollutants and noise. They will be permanently affected by control of vegetative growth, directly discharged stormwater runoff, stream channelization, compression of subsurface layers by roadway embankment (especially at bridge approaches) impeding groundwater migration, and maintenance access roads. Since this project is a long-term impact, it should be addressed in the EPD Stormwater Management Strategy.
A wide floodplain corridor on both sides of the river South of Ocmulgee National Monument on the east side and Central City Park/Macon Iron on the west side (except for the Macon Water Authority property) is undeveloped floodplain. Field survey and recent aerial photographs show that large tracts of land west of the river have a rural appearance, though bounded in places by industrial facilities. These tracts consist of open fields, intermittent forests, small wetlands, natural oxbow lakes, and reclaimed clay mine lakes, with few, if any, intrusive urban features. This area is included in the Muscogee (Creek) Nation’s version of the Ocmulgee Old Fields Traditional Cultural Property boundaries. However, construction of the EPE through the floodplain would encourage development of these vacant lands in the 100-year floodplain behind the Macon Levee and change this situation.
In much of the study area, particularly on the east side of the Ocmulgee River, human impacts are relatively minor and in many cases have become naturalized over time. Dense pine and deciduous forest and forested wetlands covers the study area. Many of the trees are 60 to 80 feet tall based on field observations and visual fields in this area can be severely limited to only a few feet except for a few high elevations. The area is a significant wildlife corridor, migratory bird habitat, and groundwater recharge area. The lakes, wetlands, and streams between Ocmulgee National Monument and Bond Swamp National Wildlife Refuge, with their adjacent terraces and uplands, provide habitat for numerous species of wildlife. They are known to be a major duck roost and feeding area for many species of migratory birds, including ducks, herons, anhingas, bald eagles, and wood storks.
A previous Draft Environmental Impact Study admitted that “specific policies and procedures for dealing with protected migratory bird species if encountered have not been developed by DGOT.” Since several of the alternatives would disrupt and fragment the riverine wildlife corridor that now links Ocmulgee National Monument to Bond Swamp National Wildlife Refuge and wildlife species that utilize these wetlands are not plentiful and are subjects of concern, and it is recognized that impacts will occur, the lack of policies and procedures for dealing with them is disturbing.
Remnant mature stands of long-leaf pines provide suitable foraging habitat for the red-cockaded woodpecker, which are known to be present in the study area. If the GDOT study team failed to observe bald eagles and wood storks during their field surveys, it is unlikely they would have seen smaller, more reticent species. Alligator, bobcat, black bear, and panthers have also been seen downstream in the Bond Swamp/Cherokee Brick, Tobesofkee Creek area.
One alternative would encounter a high-quality bottomland hardwood forested creek swamp system associated with Boggy Branch east of I-16 and the Seaboard Railroad corridor. The majority of this forested wetland system remains undisturbed, devoid of the encroachment of invasive exotic species. In addition, this wetland/forest system incorporates notable organic peat deposits, which are the subject of current and future scientific study. GDOT surveys identified this peat deposit as the deepest currently known to exist in Georgia outside the Okefenokee Swamp. The Georgia state record white crappie was caught nearby several years ago in New Pond on the Scott-McCall Archaeological Preserve.
The wetland areas function as a natural system. This is a significant undeveloped wildlife corridor from Ocmulgee National Monument south to Bond’s Swamp NWR. This corridor has kept a high level of diversity in the area. The DEIS fails to discuss this corridor. The impact to the area during construction would cause irreparable damage to this corridor, even with the actual road on bridging. Fragmentation of natural areas has been proven to reduce the species diversity of an area, as well as isolate populations in those areas.
The endangered bald eagle and wood stork are often encountered in this area . They and many other wildlife species utilizes these wetlands for feeding, breeding, and rearing young. Wetlands act as natural filters, taking excess nutrients and even pollutants out of the system. Wetlands act as a holding area for water during flooding or heavy rains. Construction in this area would damage the wetlands and decrease their ability to function normally. Due to the complexity of wetland systems, it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to artificially create functioning wetlands. For this reason, mitigation is rarely a successful alternative.
Even though GDOT Best Management Practices typically include soil erosion and sedimentation control, such as dikes, sediment basins, straw silt barriers, mulch, fiber mats, netting, temporary and permanent seeding and other methods, these measures are not always successful. At best, they only minimize off-site impacts to the natural environment. Use of herbicides for vegetative control, right-of-way fencing, vehicular emissions and runoff, maintenance access, noise, and other intrusions and fragmentations will have major long-term negative impacts.
A letter from Phillip Laumeyer, USFWS, to Dominic Saulino, GDOT Contractor Maquire Baker Associates, dated 3/30/94, stated: "Because of the Federal trust resources potentially at risk, environmental review needs to consider the impact of the project on all uplands and wetlands in the construction corridor… At the February 15, 1994 Interagency GADOT meeting attended by Randy Rivinus of your office, the Service requested the following: …Complete and thorough alternatives analysis… (which) should address the environmental impacts of each alternative… We are concerned that the preferred alternatives would be contrary to Executive Order 11988… The GADOT has made it clear that this project is part of the Fall Line Freeway. The Service will continue to recommend that current National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Environmental Impact Statements be submitted to the Federal review agencies on these Governor’s road Improvement Program corridors. This project should be addressed cumulatively within this corridor…”
4. Air Quality: This project may have a cumulative effect, adding to Macon's existing overall and longer-term air quality problems. These effects, including airborne dust and exhaust emissions, must be considered in light of Macon's on-going failure to meet EPA air quality standards. It is a well-known fact that Macon is in non-compliance.
4/26/01: The Fall Line Air Quality Study found that Macon and Atlanta appear to share ‘all or part’ of a local airshed. So when pollution levels soar in Atlanta, they soar here as well. Preliminary findings are that Macon's worst air-quality days mirror bad-air conditions in Atlanta. The study also looked at Columbus, to the southwest of Atlanta, and Augusta, to its northeast, and found that while both cities experience dangerous smog levels, Atlanta is not a factor in their pollution. This study has sobering implications. If it is correct, then some of Macon's pollution is out of local control. One way to combat this, however, would be for Macon to lower locally produced pollution enough to keep the cumulative total out of the danger zone. One thing is certain: It would be in Macon's best interest to pull out all the stops in reducing local emissions to the greatest degree possible. If not, Macon almost certainly will have to deal with restrictive pollution restraints in the near future. (Macon Telegraph editorial)
5. Noise: GDOT studies indicate that traffic volumes could generate noise increases up to 20 dBA in currently undisturbed areas immediately adjacent to the roadway. In these areas, decibel levels would increase to approximately 65-70 dBA within 150 feet of the roadway. At 200 feet from the roadway, the noise levels would be approximately 60 dBA. These increases in noise levels would be an adverse effect.
Most of the alternatives would increase noise levels in the TCP, within Ocmulgee National Monument, in the northern portion of Bond Swamp NWR, in the wetland wildlife corridor, in the proposed expansion areas of the NWR, and the planned expansion of Ocmulgee River Heritage Greenway. These areas would be impacted by even a modest increase in noise levels. No one can say for certain what the level or impact will be.
The D Alternatives are extremely close to the Lamar Unit of Ocmulgee National Monument, with its two mounds - one of which is the only spiral mound known to exist in this country. The D Alternatives will go through Ocmulgee Fields (historic Creek) site 9Bi73, marked by a bulge in the TCP boundary as it crosses the former Madelyn Van Dyke property behind the levee. Their interchanges would be constructed on the Scott-McCall Archaeological Preserve. As previously noted, the significant increase in noise is also a negative impact on this resource.
6. Visual: Most of the alternatives would split the Ocmulgee Old Fields TCP and be highly visible fhroughout most.of its northern section. Almost the entire route of several alternatives could clearly be seen from the summit of Browns Mount. And, from the summit of the Great Temple Mount, visitors currently have a vista of unbroken forests stretching toward Browns Mount and Bond Swamp, with only a few signal towers on the far horizon as visible reminders of the present. As shown on the project viewshed maps, the interchanges of at least two alternatives would degrade this experience and also be visible from the upper floor of Fort Hawkins. Lighting along the routes and especially at the interchanges would be both discernible, intrusive, and a negative impact on the resources of Ocmulgee National Monument and on the ability to view the night sky from Browns Mount where the Museum of Arts and Sciences conducts astronomical observations and educational programming.
The interchanges for the D and E alternatives would be partially constructed on the Scott-McCall Archaeological Preserve, which was donated to Ocmulgee National Monument in 1992 and is now held in trust by the Archaeological Conservancy. The intent to incorporate this approximately 300-acres parcel into the National Monument is a matter of public record. The U.S. National Park Service requested on 2/5/98 that GDOT consider this a 4(f) property for the purposes of this project.
7. Flooding: Most of the Build alternatives are located within the regulatory floodways of the Ocmulgee River. Macon sits adjacent to the river at the Fall Line, where the floodplain broadens onto the Coastal Plain southeast of downtown. The river here has historically served as a barrier to land travel, especially during periods of flooding. Its floodplain has always impeded residential or commercial development South of the city. In fact, Macon's founding fathers recognized this in their planning and passed a law in 1827 setting aside the land below 7th street for "the health and recreation" of the city's citizens.
Due to erosion caused by poor farming practices over the years, a great amount of sediment carried down from the Piedmont gradually filled the river channel at Macon. In 1940, the Macon Levee was constructed on the west side of the river; in the 1960's, I-16 was placed on berm on the east side of the river directly opposite the levee. And, in recent years, upstream development has increased the amount of run-off into the river. These factors have steadily worsened Macon's flooding problems and provide valid reasons for discouraging industrial expansion into the floodplain and floodway, even behind the levee.
Construction of the Macon Levee and the berm of I-16 drastically altered the floodplain’s hydrology, causing the many areas, including both units of Ocmulgee National Monument, to flood more frequently and severely. Additional construction of another highway and interchange in the area will add to these flooding problems. Some have attempted to justify this project by referring to construction of I-16 through this area in the 1960’s. However, the existence of scars on an historic landscape does not justify inflicting yet another scar. Doing so is a cumulative effect.
8. Fuel Usage: Increases in fuel useage resulting from the five percent grade changes and intersections (Brosnan Railyard, Edgewood Avenue, Lower Poplar Street, I-16) along several of the Alternatives have not been factored in as part of the cumulative effects of this project. Skyrocketing fuel prices, nationwide threats of imminent fuel shortages, and renewed pressure to drill in national wilderness areas indicate that in the long-term this effect could be substantial.
9. Economics: wetland and wildlife productivity and economic growth based upon environmental and heritage tourism should be considered positive long-term benefits that must be balanced against perceived travel convenience and economic growth from development in the floodplain linked to this project. Research conducted by the Macon-Bibb County Convention and Visitors Bureau reports that increased tourism has great economic potential in Macon and Middle Georgia.
Summary: Many of the negative impacts of the alternatives cannot be successfully minimized or mitigated. Immediate and long-term impacts will change the overall character of the area in question for the reasons listed above; plus, a highway through this area will encourage development in the 100-year floodplain. The secondary and cumulative effects will not be minor, especially since they involved national trust resources. The proposed use of land in national historic districts, regulatory wetlands, parkland, 100-year floodplain, endangered and migratory bird habitat, which is irreplaceable for its current uses; plus, use of non-renewable fossil fuel, labor, construction material, and a commitment of $100-million-plus in public funds, will not benefit the vast majority of local, state and federal taxpayers.
Bobcats have been sighted within the boundaries of Ocmulgee National Monument. Endangered wood storks and other species of migratory birds have been videotaped for several years feeding in the Clay Hole and jurisdictional wetlands within the National Monument and the adjacent Scott-McCall Archaeological Preserve. Bald eagle have been seen at the Lamar Village Unit of Ocmulgee National Monument. Signs of black bear have been noted on the Gledhill property between the Lamar Unit and the Archaeological Preserve, and newspaper articles record the capture of black bear on several occasions within Macon’s city limits. Short-nosed sturgeon are known to travel upstream to the Fall Line shoals of the Ocmulgee River at Macon in the Spring to spawn. Recently, a Georgia State Patrol helicopter crew reported sighting a panther and her cubs near Tobesofkee Creek within the general study area.
Though the Eisenhower Parkway Extension is no longer associated with the Fall Line Freeway and is considered a local project, it is not simply a local issue. It involves the possible expenditure of a large amount of federal funds to degrade nationally significant cultural and natural resources. The project is opposed by national organizations, including the National Parks Conservation Association, the Archaeological Conservancy, the National Trust for Historidc Preservation, the Sierra Club, the Wilderness Society, Sacred Sites International, Indian Burial and Sacred Grounds Watch, to name a few) have voiced objections to this project.
Additionally, resolutions supporting the Muscogee (Creek) Nation's position have been passed by the Council of the Five Civilized Tribes ( representing 450,000 Creek, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Seminole), the United Tribes of Oklahoma, the United South and Eastern Tribes (representing 24 federally recognized tribes), and the National Congress of American Indians, which represents over 70 federally recognized tribes across the nation). Last year, the Trail o tf Tears Motorcycle Riders (50,000 strong) carried a flag from Macon to Okmulgee, OK, in protest. And, this sample doesn't include the many state and local groups who oppose this project, which has also been used by educators from as far away as Northwestern University as a classic example of modern American Indian concerns and “preservation vs. progress” issues.
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EISENHOWER
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for Caution Macon |