At this week's Houston County commissioners meeting, an advocacy group discussed a proposal to build 'Interstate 14,' a route that could stretch from West Texas to Augusta, Ga.
Commission Chairman Tommy Stalnaker is skeptical that the project will happen anytime soon and said Central Georgia has some more pressing roadwork to handle first.
"I think most of the counties in middle Georgia would prefer State Route 96 to be complete all the way over to I-16 and all the way through Peach County tying into the 96 corridor," he said.
That project is nearing completion, but it's not finished quite yet.
Houston County director of operations Robbie Dunbar said alleviating traffic congestion was one of reason the county supported a state project to widen Highway 96 from 2 lanes to 4 throughout the county -- and their support wasn't just lip service.
"We committed as a county to put $19.5 million into the 2006 SPLOST," said Dunbar.
The project isn't yet complete in Houston County, but it's getting close, and Dunbar said he's seen traffic flowing more freely in some former trouble spots like in Bonaire near the White Diamond Grill, where crews built a new Highway 96 overpass over Highway 247.
It "had some rough edges there to start with, but I think now it's working very well," he said.
Penny Brooks with the Georgia Department of Transportation said the entire Houston County project has entered the "punch list" phase -- technical jargon that means crews are putting the finishing touches on their work.
"We're basically looking at summer 2019 for the remainder of the project --those punch list items -- to be finished, and at that point, phases 1, 2, and 3 should be all done," she said.
Still, even when the work in Houston County is complete, Brooks says there will still be work to do in other counties before the final goal of widening Highway 96 all the way from Columbus to Interstate 16 is complete.
Brooks added that a Highway 96 expansion project in Twiggs County is in the planning stage while work to widen the highway headed west toward Columbus could still be a long way off.