The multimillion-dollar project to repave Interstate 20 between the Mississippi River and the Bovina interchange is about 65 percent complete, but plans in the works for years to widen the highway are not likely to start for at least three years, Mississippi Department of Transportation officials said.

Since the first bits of asphalt hit the roadways 14 months ago, $6,213,306 has been spent resurfacing most of the 17 miles of interstate through Warren County.

That also includes a repaving of the shoulder lanes on the ramps, from Bovina to the bridge on the westbound side and from the bridge to U.S. 61 North on the eastbound side. MDOT officials have indicated this is the only ramp work on the project, leaving out already graded sections of roadway in between.

APAC-Mississippi Inc. of Jackson is the prime contractor for the resurfacing work and set to complete the work by the end of August, MDOT Central District Engineer Walter Lyons said.

Additionally, the look of much of the interstate system through the area has undergone a revamp. Light poles between spans have been replaced, with other &#8220aesthetics” such as new guardrails being added.

Meanwhile, an environmental study by Neel-Shaffer Inc. of Jackson continues on the South Frontage Road extension project. A public hearing on the project is likely by late summer, Lyons said.

It would link the portion of South Frontage that runs from Halls Ferry east to Old Highway 27 with a portion of roadway going from Berryman Road to Vicksburg Factory Outlets.

The study, funded by a $2.5 million appropriation from Congress, is expected to be complete by mid-summer after public hearings on the project are held.

The extension might involve an overpass of Kansas City Southern Railway lines that parallel Old Highway 27 in the area. Another option is a gated grade crossing of the tracks.

When the study is done, the department still may decide not to go ahead with the project, Lyons said, terming that possibility a &#8220no-build.”

The work to make the highway a smoother ride for motorists continues as interstate traffic through Vicksburg, and Warren County has increased steadily in the last 20 years.

The Mississippi Department of Transportation estimates show 44,000 vehicles traveled Interstate 20 in the city on an average day in 2004, the last year for which complete figures are available, more than doubled over 1984 when 21,000 were counted.

On the portions of the highway outside the city limits, MDOT estimates 36,000 vehicles traveled it daily in 2004, another 100-plus percent jump over 1984 when 15,000 were counted.

Even with advances in the methods that the department uses in counting cars on the state’s roads, Lyons still sees those figures as evidence of continuously growing traffic on the interstate in Vicksburg.

MDOT officials expect the trend to stay steady, even in the face of soaring fuel prices. That, however, does not figure to speed up plans in the works for years to widen Interstate 20 through Vicksburg to six lanes, three in each direction.

&#8220It’s still on our radar screens and still in our plans,” MDOT Central District Commissioner Dick Hall said, adding that other funding priorities on the federal level may push the project back even further despite $5.5 million already earmarked for the project.

&#8220It will take an awful lot of money. With the war in Iraq and Katrina, I don’t know when all the money will come. Certainly nothing will take place with it in the next three or four years,” Hall said.

A study to examine environmental impact, safety, traffic counts and impact on would precede any renovation of the interstate system.

Part of any makeover of the highway would also involve some type of reworking of the frontage roads and each interchange.

Multiple options exist for renovating the frontage roads, Lyons said, including re-directing traffic in one direction on each of them.

MDOT officials have used the frontage roads along Interstate 55 in Jackson as an example of how it would improve traffic flow, but retail businesses along both frontage roads have expressed adamant opposition to it, fearing customers will have problems getting to their businesses.

In such a scenario, Lyons said, short ramps off the interstate would access the frontage roads. Overpasses like the ones at Indiana Avenue and Halls Ferry Road would be replaced with new ones.

&#8220We certainly want public input on that,” Lyons said.

As for the interchanges, bringing them up to 21st century standards is the key, specifically scrapping the troublesome &#8220left-handed” exits that create problems for motorists at some points along the interstate.

Two examples include vehicles trying to access the Washington Street/Warrenton Road exit from U.S. 61 South and the U.S. 61 South exit from Halls Ferry Road.

&#8220That’s just 1950s and 1960s design right there,” Lyons said.

One interchange needing immediate attention is the one that handles interstate traffic in and out of Ceres Research & Industrial Interplex at Flowers.

&#8220That interchange does not meet our current standards. It’s way, way underdesigned for today’s traffic,” Lyons said.

In addition, a parking lot for freight trucks between the exit and the highway on both sides of the interstate creates an ongoing litter problem that the department has to maintain.

That space, a remnant of renovations made to the truck scales years ago, will be eliminated, Lyons said.

The Warren County Port Commission has long desired improvements to the ramp, currently meeting up with Interstate 20 on a short, sharp turn-in.

The commission has turned away proposals for small businesses in the area between it and the nearby Yorozu plant, awaiting MDOT’s final plan on right-of-way purchases. Plans are said to be a year away from being final.

Again, funding the project would be difficult because of Katrina restoration on the coast, Lyons said.

&#8220It may even be 20 years, but we’ll get it done,” Lyons said.

Commissioner Hall agreed with that assessment on the overall vision for an improved Interstate 20, but indicated funding issues will always be a stumbling block on highway projects.

&#8220We will eventually have to find another way to finance highways other than fuel consumption,” Hall said.