Factory expansion hits dead end with road dispute

Refusal to extend a stubbed-off road 550 feet may cost Rutherford County a sizeable manufacturing company and incalculable national and international marketing dividends.

Ronnie Barrett, patient owner of Barrett Firearms, pills manufacturer of the iconic Barrett Light .50-caliber rifle, web fears inability to build an access road to his new $4.5 million manufacturing facility just off the Buchanan exit of Interstate 24 will force him to move the business to another state.

A Murfreesboro native, Barrett is frustrated by the thought of moving elsewhere, largely because he believes he had an agreement with Tennessee Department of Transportation for easement of some 550 feet of right of way along the interstate to construct, at his cost, the road to the new manufacturing facility.

Barrett, who got his start in a gravel-floor garage producing the then unique Barrett Light .50, said the firearms producer is a $40-50 million/annual business that is recession proof
and doing business with 50-60 American allies.
http://www.murfreesboropost.com/factory-expansion-hits-dead-end-with-road-dispute-cms-20146