ENDVILLE - An overflow crowd of excited residents, elected leaders from the region, and contractors on Thursday morning formally celebrated the start of construction on the new Mississippi Highway 9, a four-lane artery from Pontotoc to Sherman that is on a fast track for completion in late 2012.

Gov. Haley Barbour, whose role in shaping a strategy to gain funding for the $87.5 million highway was cited by five other speakers, told the audience of about 300 the new road would be the "fastest completion of a significant highway" in the history of the Mississippi Department of Transportation."

He cast the new highway as an essential logistical link in maximizing the immediate and longer-term impact of Toyota's assembly plant at nearby Blue Springs in Union County. The northern terminus of the new road will link to Magnolia Way, the road leading from Sherman to the sprawling Toyota campus 3.5 miles to the west.

Barbour said the new Highway 9 is part of the infrastructure that will lead to development of an expanding network of Toyota suppliers and other new ventures, including in Pontotoc County.

Pontotoc is a member of the PUL Alliance of Pontotoc, Union and Lee counties, which has sought an auto-plant investment since 2002. Pontotoc has not won location of a supplier in the main, economic developers have said, because it lacked the four-lane link to Toyota.

Transportation Commissioner Mike Tagert said the 10-mile new highway creates a "mile-long list of new opportunities," plus enhancing safety, mobility and economic opportunity.

U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker, a Pontotoc County native, reminded the audience that U.S. 78, another Highway 9 connection, soon would become Interstate 22, linking with I-65 in Birmingham and I-269 near Holly Springs.

Evelyn Pritchard attended the groundbreaking as a landowner who sold property - about 100 acres - for the new highway's right of way and to contractor Eutaw Construction.

"I was happy to do it because this highway is about progress. I was paid a fair price, and it will be a benefit for many generations," she said.

MDOT District Engineer Bill Jamieson, Tupelo, said existing Highway 9 will be turned over to Pontotoc County when the new highway is completed.

joe.rutherford@journalinc.com