An informational meeting on the controversial Interstate 3 will be held in Murphy on Thursday, August 18, at 7 p.m. on the campus of the Tri County Community College.

Congress has approved $1.3 million to study a corridor for a new interstate, which is expected to slice through the lower corner of WNC en route from Savannah to Knoxville. A leading route would go through Hayesville, Andrews and Robbinsville before skirting Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

The interstate is being pushed by Georgia Congressmen who claim it will improve Savannah’s status as a port and alleviate traffic in the Atlanta area. Several business interests support the interstate. Opponents claim it will ruin the rural landscape, destroy the environment and degrade the culture and lifestyle specific to the remote corner of the state.

The informational forum is neither a pro- nor anti-Interstate 3 meeting, but is designed as an information session. There will be a question and answer session.

Speakers will include an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center, representatives of U.S. congressmen, state legislators, the N.C. Department of Transportation and a watershed group. For more information contact 828.389.0747 or email paceset@dnet.net.

— By Becky Johnson