NATCHEZ &045; The U.S. House of Representatives’ passing of a transportation bill is just the first of many steps toward creating two new interstate highways, included one that would link Natchez with Augusta, Ga.

That’s according to Brian Perry, a spokesman for the office of U.S. Rep. Chip Pickering, R-3rd District, a sponsor of House Bill 3.

While the House passed the bill Friday, it must still pass the Senate. No timetable was available as of Monday afternoon on when the bill would be taken up by that chamber.

If passed by the Senate, details would be ironed out by a House-Senate conference committee before an agreed-on bill would head to the president for his signature.

And even if it’s passed, &uot;this bill simply commissions feasibility studies for these two highways,&uot; Perry said. &uot;The U.S. Department of Transportation would do the studies and then report back to Congress what their findings were.&uot;

As the bill is worded, the USDOT would have to report its findings to Congress by Dec. 31, Perry said.

Interstate 14 would link Augusta to Natchez through Macon and Columbus, Ga., Montgomery and Grove Hill, Ala., and Brookhaven.

But recent talks in Washington have centered on expanding the I-14 route eastward to Myrtle Beach, S.C., and westward through Alexandria, La., and Jasper, College Station, and Austin, Texas.

The expanded route would join the legislative project with existing efforts to construct a Gulf Coast Strategic Highway, linking federal military facilities in Texas and Louisiana.

Interstate 3 would link Savannah, Ga., to Knoxville, Tenn., through Sylvania, Augusta, Elberton, and Toccoa, Ga., Murphy, N.C., and Maryville, Tenn.