West Memphis: A Bridge At The Crossroads

Editor’s note:  This article appears in the latest magazine issue of Talk Business Arkansas, which you can access at this link.

“With a major river port, rail, and one of the only places in the country where two interstates come together for 10 miles in the city limits, I-40 & I-55, West Memphis is truly a crossroads of America.”

“Truly everything comes through here,” says the new Director of Tourism Business Development for the Crittenden County city of West Memphis. Although an Arkansas native, Jim Jackson readily admits that before being approached about the position, he had never veered into downtown West Memphis while traveling.

“Like a lot of people, I had never been off the interstate. I didn’t know there was a downtown, which is naturally kind of interesting that I have this position, but I feel like it brings me in with open eyes.”

Since he began working for the city this past March under the umbrella of the Office of Economic Development, Jackson now realizes that West Memphis is much more than just a place to drive through.

“This is a true logistics community and it has all the flavors that you need for true economic development,” he says.

Considered a transportation and distribution hub, the city of 26,000 is also a hot gambling destination because of Southland Park Gaming and Racing. Because of a $40 million modernization and expansion project that included the addition of electronic games of skill and video poker machines, Southland now has evolved into much more than just live greyhound racing.

With almost 700 employees, Jackson calls West Memphis’ largest tourist attraction its “biggest corporate citizen.”

“We’re very proud of what Southland Gaming and Racing contributes to economic development and they work very closely with the city.”

Even though it’s in Arkansas, West Memphis owes a good deal of its heritage, economy, and culture to Tennessee’s largest city directly across the Mississippi River, Memphis.

“We are Arkansas, but we are so tied to Memphis obviously in our name, and just by proximity,” Jackson says.

“We are very proud we are Arkansas, but it’s nice to be able to have that access where in ten minutes you can be at an NBA game or a Broadway play at the Orpheum, listen to first class concerts or go to first class restaurants. So we are a small town with a small town feel, but in 10 or 15 minutes you can have access to anything you’d ever need.”
Jackson says the boom of urban living lofts and warehouses has turned downtown Memphis into a “sports bar Mecca.”

“What they lost was their retail, and what’s interesting, we are the closest retail that we know of in two zip codes Memphis has. We are the closest Kroger, Walgreens, Walmart that they have only 10 minutes away versus going all the way out to Germantown or Cordova, and so we’re marketing that to let people know and remind them how close those conveniences are.”

Jackson says that’s a prefect segue into the most exciting project he has become involved with, “The Main St. to Main St. Connector” or as it’s more commonly known, the Harahan Bridge Project.

Completed in 1916, the rail and former traffic bridge across the Mississippi River between West Memphis and Memphis at one time was the only automobile crossing south of St. Louis.

The Harahan closed to traffic in 1949 after the Memphis & Arkansas Bridge (currently I-55) opened 400 feet to the south.

Now due in large part to a $15 million federal transportation grant along with private and municipal funding, the Harahan Bridge is getting a walking and biking trail that will stretch one mile across the river on its north side connecting the two cities.

The $30 million dollar project scheduled to be completed by the end of 2014 will offer spectacular views for walkers and bikers and both cities plan parks or green spaces, and trails on either side of the bridge.

“I know there are some other nice bridge projects throughout the country, but I don’t know of any connecting two states,” says Jackson. “That’s huge and it should have some great benefits for West Memphis. We have those 800,000 people in population, not to mention visitors that will have an opportunity to either bike or walk over obviously the most famous river and probably the most romantic river in America. Our challenge once they come over to the Arkansas side is to encourage them to keep coming in to downtown.”

Jackson says lower utilities, taxes, and leasing rates for warehouse space along with the transportation infrastructure, and the resurgence of a 16-block section of Broadway downtown through its local Main St. Arkansas project gives West Memphis a calling card to attract industry and small business.

“There’s a lot of potential here. It’s been challenging and so far very rewarding,” he says.