Coming south from Montgomery, traveling down I-65 heading towards Selma. There lies a possibility &045;&045; a possibility for economic growth, for attracting tourists and even for increasing the population of Selma.

For Selma Community Development Director Elizabeth Driggers that possibility lies in something that at the moment is only a blank space.

Out on I-65 before reaching the U.S. Hwy. 80 West exit, 45 miles from Selma, there is a space for a billboard &045;&045; a space, which Driggers hopes will soon carry a billboard advertising the city of Selma.

The Selma City Council, agrees. Council members voted recently to spend $12,000 a year for the placement of the billboard.

Driggers, who is in charge of the billboard proposal for the city, said the city has a contract with Cunningham Group Inc., an advertising agency based in Montgomery, which told Driggers that the space is available.

Driggers said the billboard would, among other things, promote Selma as a good place to live, a good place to work and a good place to play.

But Driggers said there is another purpose, as well.

The billboard will include a message welcoming the new $1 billion Hyundai plant and its suppliers. The plant will be located in Hope Hull, just south of Montgomery.

Despite the proposal being alive and well, Driggers said they still haven’t decided on a design as of yet.

Philip Bryan, account executive with Cunningham Group Inc., said that at the moment there are currently two design proposals in the works.

The first, he said, features the Edmund Pettus Bridge with a blue sky in the background, &uot;welcoming Hyundai and it suppliers,&uot; while the other features a downtown shot of Selma &uot;from a crane or a helicopter.&uot;

Bryan said that the billboard may go up next week, if Mayor James Perkins Jr. agrees to one of the design proposals.