JONESVILLE, La. &045; The four-laning of U.S. 84 through central Louisiana should reach a crucial milestone later this year, according to the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development.

A contract to build approaches to the highway’s bridge over the Black River between Jonesville and Wildsville should be let in late summer, said Ricky Moon, district engineer administrator for the department’s Chase, La., district office. &uot;After that, I would say it would probably take Š 18 months to two years to finish&uot; constructing the approaches at a cost of $15 million, Moon said.

In recent years, a four-lane, concrete-and-steel bridge was built to replace the existing two-lane, swinging span bridge that was built across the river in 1933. Construction of the bridge’s main span has been finished more than one year now.

Those projects are part of a plan by the department to four-lane at 27.5-mile stretch of U.S. 84 from Ferriday to just past Archie.

That project, in turn, is part of a larger project to four-lane the route of the old El Camino Real route &045; now a contiguous stretch of highways from Georgia through Texas, including U.S. 84.

Mississippi Department of Transportation officials have said four-laning over U.S. 84 in Mississippi should be complete by 2009. But Louisiana isn’t set to finish four-laning its portion until 2025. Transportation officials from states involved in the project have said four-laning the highways would spur economic development and tourism throughout the five states.