A recent federal request for funding to expand Osceola Harbor would help alleviate what locals describe as gridlock at the Mississippi River port.

Republican Rep. Rick Crawford, of Jonesboro, submitted project requests to congressional appropriators for Congress' annual spending measures, which included a request for a $6.5 million, 3,00o-foot extension of Osceola Harbor -- something local business leaders say is necessary in response to increased barge traffic on the river owing to the area's steel and manufacturing industry boom.

"It's just a traffic jam we're trying to alleviate," Randy McNeil, owner of Poinsett Rice & Grain Co., said. "If we get to where we can't get barges in and out, it stops the whole world. It stops the agriculture and steel industries."

McNeil's company has a l

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