Warren County will request one last finishing kick of federal dollars – $522,000 to be exact – to shore up money to keep the effort alive to widen the Yazoo Diversion Canal.

Amounting to a request for additional congressional appropriation, the move stems from talks among Warren County, the City of Vicksburg and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers earlier in the week.

The board quickly approved a letter to be passed on to members of Mississippi’s congressional delegation and both U.S. senators gathered at groundbreaking ceremonies for the Bunge-Ergon ethanol plant Thursday.

&#8220It’s either this, or we dip into our reserves or Port Commission reserves,” District 4 Supervisor Carl Flanders said.

The project, at various stages for about a decade, is at a critical point because of deadlines with construction and funding.

A $4.7 million bid for the work has been extended to Jan. 20 by 4H Construction of Cleveland, Miss. Originally, the offer was to expire last week until the Warren County Port Commission lobbied the firm to prolong it.

Funding for the project has been secured through prior Corps appropriations, $1.5 million from Vicksburg via the Mississippi Development Authority and the federal Community Development Block Grant program. Warren County has supplied $164,168 through the port board.

Flanders and County Administrator John Smith said efforts to find funding by swapping projects in other Corps districts that were further behind in the bidding process was a no-go, leaving supervisors with no choice but to appeal to the state’s representatives in Congress.

Further, they were reminded of a four-month time frame the appropriations committees in both chambers of Congress have in handling private sector contributions to the project.

The board decided time was of the essence and directed Flanders to draft the letter to hand to each member of the state delegation.

The Corps dug the canal more than a century ago after the Mississippi River changed course in the years after the Civil War. Increasing its depth and width will be done by dredging, with the hope that it will enhance business viability at the Port of Vicksburg.