Submitted photoMississippi Department of Transportation Executive Director Melinda McGrath reviews the department’s budget last summer with Rep. Cory Wilson, R-Madison, (left) and Rep. Charles Busby, R-Pascagoula.

The Mississippi Economic Council voiced support Wednesday for House Speaker Philip Gunn’s suggestion of an impartial study to develop a long-term plan for addressing the state’s road and bridge needs.

“Speaker Philip Gunn has offered a public policy route that makes sense. Two lanes running in the same direction at the same time – and both get us there,” MEC president Blake Wilson said in a statement.

The “lanes” Wilson referred to are Gunn’s proposed study and HB 480, a bill that would put 70 percent of the revenue from a proposed sales tax on purchases made on the Internet toward fixing roads and bridges across the state.

“This makes sense,” Wilson’s statement continued, “and we appreciate the Speaker’s approach. … The key here is progress – in the same direction – on a common road to success.”

Gunn proposed the third-party study on transportation needs to reporters on Tuesday, suggesting the state consider hiring an outside consultant to assess road construction needs.

Prior to the 2016 legislative session, the MEC proposed a comprehensive roads project that projected a need of an additional $375 million in funding. Recently, the Mississippi Department of Transportation laid out an overview of state highway needs, suggesting an 8-year plan of action that would require $400 million in additional revenue.

Last summer, Rep. Charles Busby, R-Pascagoula, the House Transportation Committee chairman, led a series of field trips with legislators across the state to view bridge and road conditions and to assess the need for repairs. Prior to the 2017 legislative session, Busby said that just behind education, infrastructure was going to be a priority for the state.