A key state senator is speaking out against a controversial highway project in northwest Georgia that's been tied up in litigation for decades.

Republican Senator Jeff Mullis of Chicamauga says the Highway 4-11 connector in Rome is needed, but he’s urging state and federal transportation officials to choose a different route.

"As senate transportation chair and I’m also chair of transportation appropriations, my job is to look over taxpayers money and this proposed route would cost tens of millions of dollars more," says Mullis. "It is clear a better route is needed in order for the project to move forward."

Mullis says the current route would cut through a mountain, disrupt historic mines, and would be held up with legal challenges indefinitely.

His objections are the same as wealthy landowners who have been suing to stop the project since 1993.

It’s up to the Department of Transportation to decide on a route. DOT officials did not immediately return phone calls.

Tags: Department of Transportation, Dobbins Mountain, highway 411, regional transportation tax, Senator Jeff Mullis