Members of the commission that oversees the U.S. 80 Mississippi River Bridge will meet with federal and state officials to discuss funding for erosion control and plans for a park on the span.

Representatives from the Vicksburg National Military Park, the Mississippi Department of Transportation, Congress and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are invited to the meeting at 10 a.m. May 31 at the Warren County supervisors’ offices.

Engineers with ABMB, the firm contracted by the commission for the erosion plans and the park proposal, say they hope to start talks with those groups that could help fund or create partnerships with the Vicksburg Bridge Commission.

Bridge commission members say that the multimillion-dollar erosion control project is necessary to protect the 75-year-old span, but the proposed pedestrian and bicycle park remains optional.

“The only problem I’ve got, and this is not news, is that a lot of people are opposed to the park,” said Chairman Max Reed. “They remember voting on that referendum and they want to know why their wishes were not carried out.”

In 1999, Warren County residents voted 2-1 on a non-binding referendum in favor of repairing the aging concrete roadway and reopening the bridge for traffic. County supervisors then voted 4-1 to pursue that plan, but took no action. Last year the board officially reversed itself, said allowing vehicles back on the span is not feasible and OK’d the commission’s study of the park idea.

“People talk to me, too, and most of them understand all that,” said commission member Ray Wade. “What they ask me is what are we going to do with it.”

Last month, the commission accepted a 24-page report from ABMB that estimated cost of converting the bridge for pedestrian and bicycle traffic to the state line is $1.5 million. The recommendations include a protective fence between railroad tracks, which would remain in service, and the roadbed, landscaping, restrooms and golf cart transportation for handicapped and elderly.

Kansas City Southern, the rail company that pays per-car tolls for use of the bridge as its river crossing, is on record opposing a park.

Engineers with ABMB are also recommending the county seek a partnership with MDOT, which owns the adjacent property south of the bridge, and the National Military Park, which owns the adjacent property to the north. That could solve some problems with the park plan brought up six years ago when it was first proposed.

ABMB has proposed a series of hearings before moving forward with any conversion of the bridge, but commission members say they want to finish gathering information before trying to present the plan publicly.

“If there’s going to be a groundswell of opposition we need to make it happen. We don’t want to go about this like it’s a clandestine operation,” said commission member Bob Moss.

There was an outcry in 1997 over the bridge after it was made public that the bridge commission had negotiated the sell of the county-owned span for $5.5 million to KCS.