NATCHEZ &045;&045; Four-laning of U.S. 84 across Mississippi should be complete by 2009, with a stretch from Natchez to Waynesboro being finished in 2006, Southern District Transportation Commissioner Wayne Brown said.

His comments were made during a meeting of the Five-State El Camino East/West Corridor Commission, held Wednesday and Thursday at the Ramada Hilltop.

There, officials from Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama and Texas met to discuss what progress is being made on four-laning highways from Georgia through Texas, including U.S. 84.

Commission members have said four-laning the highways would spur economic development and tourism throughout the five states. &uot;The main purpose is economic development, … pulling people who have fat billfolds off the interstates&uot; to see the El Camino route’s historic cities, Wayne Brown said.

Meanwhile, Louisiana is making progress on its highway four-laning but will probably take until 2025 to finish construction of its entire portion, said Leland Scoggins, president of the commission.

The importance of the project cannot be overstated for economic development throughout the South, said Larry L. &uot;Butch&uot; Brown, former Natchez mayor and executive director of the Mississippi Department of Transportation.

With some marketing &045;&045; the details of which were to be worked out during this week’s meeting &045;&045; it should be easy to draw tourists to the route, Brown said. &uot;Every city you go through (on the El Camino route) is a historic community,&uot; he said.