COLUMBIA - Now that the Interstate 73 connection with North Carolina is agreed upon, the next step is another trip to Washington to plead for money to build the road.

"Now our focus must be on the financial side of the equation," said state Rep. Alan Clemmons, R-Myrtle Beach, chairman of the S.C. I-73 Association.

The pact commits North Carolina to build a 3.7-mile connection to I-73 in the vicinity of S.C. 38, and commits South Carolina to built about a five-mile connection to I-74 from S.C. 31 to the state border. The accord was reached at a Carolinas summit Friday in Myrtle Beach.

South Carolina's Department of Transportation Commission is to formally approve the agreement Thursday. North Carolina's Transportation Board will have the agreement on its agenda March 3.

Leaders of both boards said Friday they expect easy passage of formal approvals of the bi-state agreement.

"Then we go, the two states united, to Washington," said state Rep. Doug Jennings, D-Bennettsville. Jennings leads the I-73 committee of the North Eastern Strategic Alliance.

Planning is just getting started, but the trip will be for lobbying to have I-73 named a road of national significance in the new highway bill, as well as to ask for more money, Jennings said.

It is "key to us" to have the special designation because it can mean extra construction money for the road, Clemmons said.

The lobbying trip would be similar to one a year ago when legislators, Pee Dee area officials and Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce members spent two days on Capitol Hill meeting with key members of Congress about designation and funding for I-73.

Clemmons said the purpose would would be to meet with key members of budget and transportation committees, as well as their staff.

A year ago, many of those members of Congress and their staff pledged support of I-73, but the expected agreement on a new highway bill was not reached at that time.

The highway bill expired Sept. 30, 2003, and since then, Congress has not been able to agree on a new law. The existing law has been extended so that ongoing programs can continue.

Clemmons said he is encouraged that President Bush has raised the amount of highway funding he will support to $284 billion. In past years, he threatened to veto anything more than $256 billion.

Passage of a highway bill still has much work if a new one is to be passed by the May 31 expiration of the existing law. The House has agreed to a $284 billion measure, but the Senate still is demanding $318 billion. The final amount will affect how much proportional share each state and each specified road project will be allocated.