Don’t think an interstate is important for economic development in Alabama’s Black Belt? Consider these numbers:

According to Wayne Vardaman, those numbers were distributed at a recent economic development meeting he attended. Vardaman is executive director of the Selma-Dallas County Economic Development Authority.

Last year, the Alabama Department of Transportation received $3 million to begin the study of expanding Interstate 85 from Montgomery to Meridian, Miss. Now, U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., has tacked on another $1 million to continue the study.

Building an interstate is not an easy job. Studying the construction of an interstate is not easy, either.

Last year, Shelby secured $3 million to begin the project. That money, according to ALDOT, was to be used for a &uot;corridor study&uot; of extending I-85 from Montgomery to Meridian. In fact, ALDOT skipped one step in the process &045;&045; a step called a &uot;feasibility study.&uot;

Normally, transportation departments take federal money like the $3 million appropriated by Shelby and perform a study on whether building a new road is &uot;feasible.&uot; In the case of the Black Belt, no one in state or federal government questioned whether it was feasible to build the interstate corridor.

Because of the apparent need for an East-West corridor across Alabama, ALDOT moved directly to the &uot;corridor study,&uot; a step that determines where the interstate actually will be built. Only problem is, ALDOT is having a hard time determining where to put the concrete.

One suggestion has been to connect I-85 through the Prattville area and run it across the state from there. Another suggestion has been to extend I-85 through Hope Hull &045;&045; a more southerly direction. (Obviously, the new Hyundai plant would be the reason for that proposed route.) One other suggestion has been to continue I-85 from where it stops in Montgomery near Day Street and run it straight across to Meridian.

When that might happen is anybody’s guess.

While ALDOT must wait on a suitable map for the interstate connector, there are other concerns when taking on a construction project of this magnitude.

ALDOT has hired consultants to perform the environmental study, and until that is complete, the project will continue at a rather slow pace.