Camden, Tenn.–County and state officials from the area met in Camden Thursday night to discuss the possibility of expanding Hwy. 641 to a four-lane highway from the Kentucky state line to the Alabama line.
The session was hosted by Benton County Mayor Brett Lashlee and was an organizational meeting to discuss development of Hwy. 641 into a more significant thoroughfare between Kentucky and the Gulf Coast.
In the invitations sent out for the meeting, Lashlee said if the project can be realized, it will dramatically change the landscape of rural West Tennessee by adding a secondary North-South major highway to the East-West I-40 that we have now.
The meeting was held at the Country & Western Steakhouse in Camden, just hours before the fire which heavily damaged the restaurant.
In photo are: (from left) Henry County Mayor John Penn Ridgeway, Wayne County General Sessions Judge James Ross, Benton County Mayor Brett Lashlee, Decatur County Mayor Mike Creasy and State Rep. Bruce Griffey. (Bobby Melton photo).