Opponents of a proposed interstate highway from Savannah to Knoxville, Tenn., hope to move its potential route to South Carolina to avoid any environmental or economic disruption of north Georgia's mountains.

"We don't want I-3 at all," said Reagan Williams, an aide to 10th District U.S. Rep. Paul Broun.

Mr. Broun's predecessor -- the late Charlie Norwood -- won funding for an Interstate 3 feasibility study in 2005.

The $1.3 million study has already been signed into law and can't be "de-funded," but perhaps alternate routes could be evaluated, Mr. Williams told members of the Sierra Club's Savannah River chapter Tuesday night.

"The study is going to happen," he said. "But we'd like to write into the study to look at alternate routes."

The current proposal calls for the 450-mile highway to run from Savannah to Augusta and along the Georgia side of the Savannah River through the mountains to Knoxville.

A possible South Carolina route could run from the end of Bobby Jones Expressway in North Augusta and run along the South Carolina side of the Savannah River. But there is little support for moving the study area.

Mr. Broun convinced the federal Highway Administration to postpone a request for proposals that would give prospective firms 90 days to submit bids for the study, Mr. Williams said.

Environmental groups have joined forces as the Stop I-3 Coalition to prevent an interstate highway that would bisect mountain wilderness, said Holly Demuth, the group's director.

Most major highway projects, she said, are conceived by professional transportation planners.

The I-3 plan, she said, was the idea of a politician and has never been backed by the federal or state highway departments.

In addition to damaging environmentally sensitive areas, the road would not -- as proponents have argued -- alleviate traffic in the Atlanta area, and more than likely would affect small north Georgia towns that are bypassed by the highway.