VIDALIA &045; An unencumbered drive from Brunswick, Ga., through Natchez, Vidalia and Ferriday, and to El Paso, Texas would be a truck driver’s dream.

And Ashley Butler, vice president of Rhett Butler Trucking in Alabama, came to the annual El Camino East/West Corridor annual meeting ready to prod the construction along. El Camino is 1,729 miles of highway that crosses 48 counties and six parishes. Already, 1,100 miles are four-laned or under construction.

Butler told representatives from the highway’s five states, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Texas, that good transportation is the key to economic development.

In many Louisiana communities where the highway hasn’t been four-laned businesses have closed, population has decreased and the economy has suffered, he said.

Mississippi, on the other hand, has nearly completed its portion of the roadway with only 69 miles unaccounted for.

Rhett Butler, president of the trucking company, spoke to the group through a video presentation.

&uot;The first thing that a business is going to look at is how am I going to get my products to market and how am I going to get my products in.&uot;

Rhett Butler said 80 to 85 percent of products are moved on trucks now, and trucks need good roads.

A four-lane highway offers truck drivers more fuel efficiency, less costly stops and starts and a safer travel environment.

But as it stands, many drivers aren’t taking advantage of the El Camino because it is not four-laned all the way across.

Representatives from each state gave the commission updates on their progress and future plans.

In Louisiana, Kenneth Perret, assistant secretary for planning and programming with the Department of Transportation and Development, said he was hopeful the highway could be completed in the future, but said right now the money isn’t there.

&uot;The only situation we have in Louisiana is priority and the lack of funding to fund everything that we’d like to do,&uot; Perret said.

Road dollars in the state go first to preservation of existing roads, then operational improvements, safety and finally capacity improvement, which would be the corridor.

Some work on the El Camino is underway in the state though, including the bridge replacement in Jonesville. Plans have been drawn to four-lane the stretch from the east side of Jonesville to just outside of Ferriday.

&uot;We haven’t made as much progress as we’d like to make on the four-laning, but we are doing the best we can with the budget,&uot; Perret said.

The state has completed a master plan of construction that will be implemented when the money is available.

In Mississippi, Wayne Brown, commissioner of the southern district for the Mississippi Department of Transportation, said the news was much better.

&uot;Our news is good news,&uot; he said. &uot;Of 188 miles in Mississippi, 150 are open or being four-laned.&uot;

The strip undone is from Waynesboro to the Alabama line, but the state will take bids on the project in August.