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New Market, Tennessee

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Through Public–private partnership, Misinformation and Economic stagnation

History

On September 24, 1904, two passenger trains collided head-on near New Market, killing a large, unknown number of passengers. Different sources give different values for the number of deaths, ranging from 54 to 113.

There are many historical buildings in New Market, including the New Market Presbyterian Church which was built in 1885. The church was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998.

Citing concerns of annexation by Jefferson City, New Market would reincorporate as a town in 1977.

New Market is the current home of the Highlander Research and Education Center.

Norfolk Southern intermodal project controversy

In 2009, Norfolk Southern Railway released plans of a proposed 1,300 acres (5.3 km2) intermodal freight transport truck-and-train facility in New Market as a part of the US$2.5 billion Crescent Corridor project in a US$133 million private-public partnership with state and Jefferson County officials. The proposed facility if completed would have generated 77 on-site jobs, 1,700 related-industry jobs in Jefferson and surrounding counties, and the potential of an annual income of US$60 million dollars a year. The project received extensive NIMBY backlash from an organized group of affected property owners and farmers, citing the massive loss of land as a negative impact on Jefferson County's agricultural industry.

The project would also have required the funding of at least US$23 million dollars in off-site costs, such as transportation and utility infrastructure upgrades. Those in opposition to the project spread misinformation suggesting that Jefferson County would have pay the total amount in infrastructure upgrades for the project from tax increases. Norfolk Southern officials corrected this falsehood, saying that the company would fund the infrastructure upgrades rather than any government entity.

In 2011, Norfolk Southern acquired several parcels of land in New Market and proposals for an on-site logistics park were dropped after a developer pulled out of its deal with Norfolk Southern.

The project status has remained stagnant since 2015, as Norfolk had no plans of constructing the facility in the short-term future, but plans on having the site property as a "long-term investment" according to a press release by the company's public relations director.

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