[1/4/03]They may look like flower pots, but their real purpose is added security.

Officials at the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center say the concrete pots, measuring about 3 1/2-by-3 1/2-feet, have already been placed around the Corps’ Information Technology Laboratory on Porters Chapel Road and plans are to place more around the headquarters building off Halls Ferry Road in the next two weeks.

Wayne Stroup, public affairs spokesman, said new guard shacks around the sprawling Army research facility are also in the works. They will include bulletproof glass, he said.

“This is part of our ongoing security enhancements since 9-11,” Stroup said, with reference to the 2001 terror attacks.

The pots are set up as barriers to keep vehicles from slamming into the buildings. Similar barriers, such as the Jersey barrier, a concrete post about 3 feet tall, have been used for years around other government buildings, including the White House and the Capitol, but some are being replaced by more aesthetically pleasing designs.

Stroup said they might hold daisies, but will be enough to stop most trucks.

“The first thing in a terrorist attack you want is to keep that bomb in that truck away from the buildings,” he said.

The planters, made in Nevada, weigh about 2,400 pounds each and are filled with soil and blocks of concrete. There are about 85 around the ITL building and 67 will be placed around the headquarters building, Stroup said.

Since the terrorist attacks 15 months ago, security across the nation has tightened at federal buildings, military installations and airports. Locally, the biggest changes can be seen at ERDC where large, military vehicles still block back gates once open to employees.

Today, everyone enters the facility through one of two gates, and all visitors must show identification and be escorted by Corps personnel.

What is now known as ERDC was founded in 1929 as Waterways Experiment Station, a place for Army engineers to study hydraulics, soil, wave motions and pavements with an eye toward reducing flooding from the nation’s waterways. Since then more labs have been added, including the ITL, which houses some of the world’s most advanced super computers.

ERDC employs about 1,200 people in Vicksburg and conducts research, some of it classified, on contract from other Army installations.