A Mississippi highway commissioner said an I-14 proposal, which would link Georgia to Texas along Highway 84, has a poor chance to succeed in Congress.

“It just doesn’t seem to get much traction,” Southern District Highway Commissioner Wayne Brown told Lincoln County supervisors during a board meeting Monday.

The I-14 project has been proposed and supported by lawmakers in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas. It calls for upgrading Highway 84 to interstate standards to create a third east-west corridor through Mississippi.

The project is of extreme interest to counties and municipalities along the Highway 84 corridor because of its immense economic potential.

However, Brown said interest among other legislators is mixed.

All admit the state’s interstates are congested and another interstate may be needed, Brown said. However, many favor building a new, “true” interstate with a very limited number of interchanges that would boost commercial traffic, he said.

The commissioner also said support to four-lane LouisianaHighway 25 and Mississippi Highway 27 from New Orleans to Vicksburg was also waning outside of the states that would benefit from the proposal. That project was proposed and continues to be supported by legislators and public officials from both states as a needed evacuation corridor for New Orleans residents.

Monticello Mayor David Nichols, one of the leaders on the project, disagreed with Brown.

Citing Monday telephone conversations with Sen. Thad Cochran’s and Rep. Chip Pickering’s offices, Nichols said he had been told there are funds to study evacuation routes – including the Louisiana Highway 25 and Mississippi Highway 27 proposal – in a $29 billion Hurricane Katrina relief package. The package has been approved by the House, but is awaiting a vote in the Senate.

According to Nichols, the route was one of last to close during Hurricane Katrina’s landfall and the first to reopen. He has called the project vital for Louisiana residents and a great boon to economic development potential in southwest Mississippi.