MONTICELLO — Preliminary work may begin soon on the proposedHighway 27 four-laning project, officials said.

A bill that would approve $500,000 to fund a feasibility study,the first step in any highway construction or expansion, iscurrently in a congressional conference committee, said Mayor DavidNichols.

Nichols said the bill is expected to pass without anychanges.

“We are going to receive $500,000 from the federal government onthe Highway 27 widening project,” he said.

The grant would be held by the Mississippi Department ofTransportation.

“I think it should fully cover the feasibility study. It is amajor first step,” Nichols said.

The bill would also put the project on the list for grants fromother federal agencies and make it easier to secure more funding inthe future, the mayor said.

“This really is a major breakthrough,” Nichols said. “It’s a bigproject and it’s been in the making for a long time.”

The Highway 27 project would add two additional lanes to Highway27 from Crystal Springs to the Louisiana state line.

It would also tie into a Louisiana project to extend the fourlanes from the Mississippi state line to New Orleans to create anevacuation corridor for residents on the coast when a hurricanelooms or another disaster threatens.

City and county governments from Crystal Springs to New Orleanshave been meeting with their respective representatives andsenators to promote the project.

The $500,000 grant received through MDOT for the feasibilitystudy would only include that section of the proposed project inCongressional District Three, although similar legislation is beingworked in other districts.

Third District U.S. Rep. Chip Pickering, who has lobbied for theproject, said not only would it aid Louisiana residents duringemergencies, but it could also provide a strong economic advantageby convincing industrial prospects of the viability of locating insouthwest Mississippi.

The Highway 27 project is one of several projects in the 2004Transportation Equity Act totaling $3.25 million. Similarlegislation has been approved in the U.S. Senate and the final billwill be negotiated in conference committee.

Pickering, vice-chairman of he Energy and Commerce Committee,anticipated the funding for these projects would remain at least atthe levels proposed in the House bill in the final bill.

“Improving our transportation infrastructure is critical to oureconomic development in Mississippi,” he said. “These projectsrepresent a combination of a strategic plan for Mississippi’stransportation needs, as well as top priorities of localcommunities for their specific growth opportunities.”

Nichols said the Highway 27 project, when combined with theongoing Highway 84 project, would place Monticello in a strongposition to lobby industrial prospects because it would provide afour-lane highway traveling north-south as well as east-west andlink many of the major cities in the region.