Vicksburg, Miss., again seeks funds for Clark Street bridge

Mayor Paul Winfield returned to Vicksburg, Miss., from a three-day trip to Washington, D.C., where he visited local delegates in a continued effort to wrest from federal sources nearly $4 million to get the stalled Washington Street bridge replacement under way, according to the Vicksburg Post.

"This was kind of a
last-ditch effort to meet with everyone to try to make sure we get the funding,"
said Winfield of his solo trip that began Tuesday. "It’s been a brief trip, but
it’s been very positive."

The 80-year-old bridge at
Clark Street – a vital part of the city’s main north-south thoroughfare through
downtown – has been closed to all traffic since January. It is to be replaced
with a road-topped railway tunnel. A bid of $8.6 million for the work from
Kanza Construction of Topeka, Kan., is in place. However, approximately $3.8
million in funding is not.

While in D.C., Winfield
met with U.S. Sens. Thad Cochran and Roger Wicker, as well as U.S. Rep. Bennie
Thompson and some of the delegates’ aides. He said all understand the urgent
need to get funding in place for the project, and said several options were
discussed.

"We’re trying about three
or four different routes," the mayor said.

The preferred and
quickest route, Winfield said, would be for the project to be included in a
stimulus-like bill being advocated by the American Association of State Highway
and Transportation Officials. If that option falls through, the mayor said
local delegates are working to find the $3.8 million through MDOT via money
dedicated to other road and bridge projects in the state that are not ready to
get under way. If one of those options comes through, Winfield estimated the
funding for the bridge replacement could be in place shortly after the first of
the year. If not, the additional funding may not be in place until next fall,
he said.

"Then we’ll have to go
through the regular process of applying for funding in the 2011 fiscal year
budget … and funding would kick in around October," he said.

The tunnel is estimated
to take anywhere from a year to 18 months once work begins. When the city began
planning for the bridge replacement in 2006, it estimated the cost at $5
million and set aside exactly that much of a $16.9 million bond issue for the
work. The Federal Railroad Administration is to reimburse the city $4 million
of the cost.

However, when bids were
taken on the work earlier this year the cost had grown to nearly twice the original
estimate. The not to exceed $8.6-million contract with Kanza was secured this
summer after months of negotiations. City officials under former Mayor Laurence
Leyens began scrambling for the extra funds, and Winfield has inherited the
problem since taking office in July.