For U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), the visit to Selma Monday marked the 1,701 public hearing he has held since being elected senator.

The longtime public servant has made an annual trip throughout Alabama, holding public meetings in each of Alabama’s 67 counties.

“This is important for me,” Shelby told the crowd gathered at the St. James Hotel in downtown Selma Monday afternoon. “This is a chance for me to get out Washington and come hear from you.”

For the more than 100 who were in attendance, Shelby gave his thoughts on the nation’s escalating debt, struggling economic recovery and the impact a proposed oil pipeline — cancelled by President Barack Obama — would have meant for the nation’s energy independence.

But in the end, it was two local topics that discussion.

The first was the once proposed I-85 extension, that would have brought the interstate through the Black Belt to near the Mississippi line.

“As you know, as I have said in this room before, I tried to jump start an interstate to go from I-85 all the way to I-59 in Sumter County,” Shelby said. “Seemed to be — other than in the Black Belt — not a lot of interest. Not a lot of interest by the Federal government, not a lot of interest by the state government. So, I think now that it won’t ever be built. But, I sure wish it would be.”