It would be a long road to completion, but a proposal to build an Interstate between Augusta, Ga., and Natchez would have huge impact on southwest Mississippi’s economic development goals.

U.S. Rep. Max Burns, R-Ga. &045;&045; along with a slew of Black Belt region lawmakers who signed on as co-sponsors &045;&045; has introduced legislation to begin steps for development of the Interstate.

While the measure is most certainly in its infancy, everything, as Mississippi Department of Transportation Director Larry L. &uot;Butch&uot; Brown said, &uot;has to start somewhere.&uot;

An interstate is the sort of thing we in the Miss-Lou have been dreamy-eyed about for decades. Adequate transportation is one of the major prongs of any economic development effort, along with education, workforce development and funding.

For a while, even just building four-lane access to Natchez seemed a distant hope, but we’ve made progress on highways throughout southwest Mississippi, and plans are still in the works for completion.

But an interstate? Some of us didn’t even dare to dream that.

Now someone has.

And yes, we have a long way to go. The legislation is so new it wasn’t even posted to a Congressional Internet database as of Wednesday. Lawmakers do not yet have cost estimates. Most folks in Natchez didn’t even know about it.

But now that the proposal is out there, we just need some major cheerleaders behind it. We’re betting that with the leadership we have &045;&045; and with Third District Rep. Chip Pickering as a co-sponsor and the state’s transportation director as a Natchez native &045;&045; we can have some major firepower to drive this legislation to completion.

We already know all roads lead to Natchez. Maybe someday this one will, too.