A contract for completion of four-laning work on U.S. 61 North could be let by April, U.S. Sen. Bob M. Dearing said this week.

Dearing, D-Natchez, who is serving as the new chairman of the Senate Highways and Transportation Committee, has spent much of the first few weeks of the Legislative session assessing the progress of four-laning to and from Natchez.

He said the Department of Transportation has put a priority on work from the Adams County line to the Fayette bypass. The problem with that part of the project has been acquiring rights of way and moving utilities, but Dearing said the department now has the rights of way.

&uot;The Department of Transportation told me they could let that project as early as March if they had the utilities moved,&uot; Dearing said.

Southwest Mississippi Rural Electric has said it could have its utilities moved within nine weeks, but the McNair Stampley Water Association, still has to move its lines, Dearing said.

But once a bid is awarded, Dearing said, the project is far from over.

&uot;It’s still a long way to go,&uot; he said. &uot;It just won’t happen overnight. Usually these things take about three years.&uot;

The utilities on the stretch of U.S. 61 from Port Gibson to Fayette have been moved, Dearing said, but there are other problems with that part of the project.

&uot;Port Gibson is a stumbling block because of the Trace,&uot; Dearing said. &uot;There are so many big oaks, and they don’t want to move them. If Grant said the town was too beautiful to burn, they don’t want the highway department to hurt anything either.&uot;

A lack of four-lane highways into Natchez has often been cited as a problem in recruiting business and industry. Both U.S. 61 and U.S. 84 were part of the state’s 1987 highway project, but both have been slow moving. The U.S. 61 project was supposed to have been under construction in 1998. Four-laning construction on the last stretch of U.S. 84 from Natchez to Brookhaven should be completed by October.