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Lawmakers urged to fix 'last-mile' Bunge Road bottleneck to move crops to market
Summary
Commissioner Holt and industry witnesses told senators that last‑mile access at Dyer County's Bunge Road, flood exposure and levee problems prevent barges from loading and are a critical barrier to exporting Tennessee grain; members urged coordinated investment.
Commissioner Andy Holt and representatives of the Tennessee soybean industry identified the Bunge Road project in Dyer County as an acute infrastructure need that prevents producers from reliably getting grain to barges on the Mississippi River.
Holt described Bunge Road as literally the "last mile" — a one- to two-mile stretch that at times is covered by the Mississippi or is in the flood plain and that denies producers the ability to load barges for export. Stefan Malvin and several senators emphasized that without an all‑weather, elevated access road and short-line rail options, Tennessee producers cannot reliably move anticipated volumes even when export demand rises.
Several members pressed for coordination among the Department of Economic and Community Development, Department of Transportation and finance committees to identify funding mechanisms. Senator Bailey and others noted that port and river access investments would benefit both agriculture and manufacturing across the state; no specific appropriation was approved during the session.
