Commission’s resolution backs seeking grant.

A procedural hurdle was cleared Wednesday when members of the Vicksburg Bridge Commission passed a resolution supporting efforts to obtain a federal grant to establish a pedestrian park on the former roadbed of the U.S. 80 bridge across the Mississippi River.

Jimmy G. Gouras Urban Planning Consultants Inc. sought the commitment vote by the commission to fulfill a requirement in the grant application process before a July 31 deadline.

The firm is also seeking a similar resolution by Warren County supervisors. With just one meeting set before the filing deadline, Monday at 9 a.m., the issue is expected to be on the next agenda.

The vote was 3-1, with commission member Tom Hill dissenting. Commissioner Winky Freeman was absent.

Hill, who had voiced doubts about the safety of having a park on the bridge when he was appointed to the five-member commission in October 2005, cited specifics in the grant application that he said failed to address items such as operating times, provisions for bad weather and adequate protection for walkers and cyclists.

&#8220We should have the right to close the thing down in those situations,” Hill said. &#8220There’s just too many holes.”

The notion of a public space on the roadbed, closed since 1998, has been hot and cold with the supervisors and the people they appoint to the bridge management board being both for and against the idea. The county bought the bridge, privately built in 1930, in 1947, and has operated it on a break-even basis since.

Hill also said not enough protection was in place to prevent a walker or a cyclist from falling over the bridge’s guard rails and that higher ones would need to be built.

County Engineer John McKee of ABMB Engineers Inc., who has done feasibility studies for the bridge park concept, said such extra construction would cost about $4 million because of material costs that remain high.

&#8220We can play ‘what if’ all day,” Commissioner Ray Wade said later in response.

According to the application, the pedestrian walkway would stretch about 1,200 feet from the approach on the Mississippi side. The bike path would be open to riding all the way to the bridge’s end in Louisiana.

Even members who voted for the resolution had problems with some of the details in the application, particularly language that said the county would take the financial brunt of the project if there are any cost overruns.

&#8220That’s potentially a prickly problem,” chairman Robert Moss said.

The full $50 million grant will be sought through the Mississippi Department of Transportation and, if approved, will originate from a larger $244.1 billion highway enhancement bill passed by Congress and signed by the president in August 2005.

About $2.14 million in federal money would fund the bridge park portion of the grant, more than the $1.6 million from the feds that was to fund a similar grant attempt in 1999. That one expired without support.

The local match would be $427,000, an amount that would be covered using the commission’s utility fund, Moss has said.

Annual operating costs are expected to be in the $195,000 range, the application stated.

&#8220I think we are prepared to deal financially with this,” Moss said.

Kansas City Southern Railway, the main customer of bridge services and at odds with the commission over lease terms, has long said it opposes a park for safety reasons and would seek legal action if the plan goes ahead.

&#8220We’ve made a verbal commitment to them to not do this,” Moss said, adding that it was likely that the progress on the grant pursuit would be communicated to KCS officials.

Panel adds new rail charge to new budget.

The Vicksburg Bridge Commission’s spending plan grew by more than $3 million Wednesday when commissioners voted to include the $14 per-car lease rate billed to Kansas City Southern Railway.

KCS, the main customer of the county-owned river crossing, has not agreed to the new rate and has been paying the former toll – but talks are growing friendlier, Chairman Robert Moss said.

In addition to progress in conference calls between commission counsel and attorneys for KCS improving, Moss forecast more rail traffic.

A joint venture announced in February between KCS and Norfolk Southern Corporation is beefing up the 320-mile stretch of rail line between Shreveport and Meridian, called the Meridian Speedway. That has reframed the tenor of negotiations, Moss added.

&#8220We’re counting on the rail car count going up because of the rail bed being improved,” Moss said.

Originally forecast to be $1.5 million, the railroad lease is now expected to draw $4.56 million.

Overall, the modified budget shows income at $4.83 million with projected spending at a little more than $1.4 million. Commission budgets rarely balance, with reserves created to fund major maintenance and stabilization contracts.

Other, smaller adjustments were made to the costs for commission salaries, insurance and state retirement for bridge employees and federal taxes.

Another cost that could change is in security.

During the meeting, the board voted to accept proposals to design and develop a multi-camera video surveillance system to monitor the bridge.

Undersheriff Jeff Riggs spoke to the board about the proposal, to be funded by what remains of a $50,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security the county received in 2005.

The bridge and the parallel Interstate 20 span for vehicles are listed as vulnerable targets for terrorism and the cameras would provide a measure of protection, Riggs said.

The board approved paying $44,641 to Applied Research Associates to craft a risk management plan for the bridge.

The $14 per-car rate to be effective in January was set by the commission in September, but for all but one month since, KCS has continued to pay the previous rate of $4 per car for the first 125,000 cars per year and $3.75 for each car after that.

Despite the estimated $2 million difference in invoices to the railroad and its payments, Moss said the joint venture has quickened the pace of responses to commissioner’s questions concerning lease rates.

However unlikely the railroad is to actually pay $14 per car, any new lease agreement is &#8220looking better” that it will at least rise from the old base rate of $4.

&#8220I’m fully confident it will go up,” he said.

Rail traffic for June was reported to the commission at 27,150. At that count, the income to the commission would be $380,100 if the $14 per car rate were paid.

&#8220They could run two trains per hour with no problem right now,” superintendent Herman Smith said.

In other business, the commission: