CREATING A CHARISMATIC CORRIDOR

CORRIDOR COMPONENTS

The corridor project will focus on evolvement of three fundamental elements.  They served as assumptions for the economic impact analysis performed in 2003, and successful project development will be judged by the extent that we remain true to these elements.  They are the following:

Natural “tapestry” of special sites and places that meet exceptional user enhancement standards and provide for a high level of user comfort.

The corridor landscape is envisioned to be an interconnected “tapestry” of special places on and along the Mississippi, reaching east to the top of the Chickasaw bluffs.  The corridor landscape will include parks, wildlife refuges, farms, bluff overlooks, greenways, lakes, rivers, and streams.  It may eventually include islands in the Mississippi and other river amenities.  Each site in the corridor has its own unique, indigenous, intrinsic value and sense of place.  We must draw out that special quality through enhancements, acquire parcels of land that are especially important, protect fragile environments, and provide a high level of user interest and comfort through interpretation and other tools.

Mid-corridor “gathering place” on the Chickasaw bluff overlooking the Mississippi River.

The corridor is envisioned to have one, special, world-class visitor complex in its mid-section which gives the corridor immediate national identity.  Together with the strong corridor attractions that anchor the Project at the Memphis Riverfront and Reelfoot Lake, the mid-corridor complex envisioned for the Fort Pillow State Park area, will serve as a focal-point for travel and exploration in the corridor.  Here visitors will find warm hospitality at a landscape-sensitive inn or lodge with nearby magnificent bluff overviews of the Mississippi.  A nature center will open up the immense ‘river-world’ of the Mississippi to people of all ages.  The Fort Pillow interpretive center will provide a panoramic portrayal not only of the controversial battle that was fought there but of the total Mississippi River theater of the Civil War.

“Wayfaring system” of scenic, interconnected roads, trails, waterways, and greenways.

The “wayfaring system” will connect sites and invite exploration by automobile, bicycle and boat as well as by foot.  Way-sides at regular intervals will contribute to the security, comfort and enjoyment of users through orientation maps and information that is easy to follow and engaging to read.  The system will feature a continuous north-south roadway and bikeway, envisioned for the Chickasaw bluffs, to accommodate the Tennessee segments of the Great River Road and Mississippi River Trail bicycle route.  Eventually it will include river transporters on the Mississippi.  Smooth scenic transitions between Interstate 69 and the river corridor will be essential.

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