PORT GIBSON — Eighteen trustees and staffers of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History toured here Thursday, listening as locals showed them historic sites, including those that may be in jeopardy due to roadway expansion.

The group was bused up from Natchez, where the board is holding its quarterly meeting. While not specifically in support of the “Save Church Street” campaign, they were met by Port Gibson Mayor Fred Reeves, who supports preservation of the trees, churches and homes along the street that also takes U.S. 61 traffic through the town. Also on the tour were members of the Port Gibson Heritage Trust Highway 61 Committee.

One stop was St. Joseph Catholic Church, which sits about 20 feet back from the street.

H.T. “Hank” Holmes, director of MDAH said the tour “gives us an opportunity to get a firsthand look at it and inform the board what the issues are.” The board voted in July to support Port Gibson’s resistance to state Department of Transportation plans for work along the route.

Port Gibson contains the last segments of U.S. 61 in Mississippi not widened into four lanes between I-20 in Vicksburg and I-10 in Baton Rouge.

While part of the route through the town is already four lanes, other areas are not and would be widened under an MDOT plan. In addition, a busy stretch of the road has been proposed for restriping into five lanes.

The heritage trust committee has requested instead that a bypass be constructed beginning just north of the town, pass on the east between two industrial parks and reconnect with the four-lane highway that runs south to Natchez.

Some business owners in the town have come out in support of MDOT’s plans to keep traffic on U.S. 61 and oppose a bypass.

“Traffic is the lifeblood of the community,” said Doug Nasif, owner of M&M Superstore, which has operated on Church Street since it was started by his parents in 1951. “Any bypass or economic impact survey done before and after a bypass has been constructed has shown that it has been a detriment. It decreases traffic (through town), and drives down property values.”

Jane Ellis, chairman of the Highway 61 Committee disagrees.

“If it stays here in the center of town, they’re talking about businesses, but many businesses north of the town would have to be taken out because the road needs to be widened to four lanes there,” Ellis said. “The others would be impacted because they would lose at least half their parking lot.”

Nasif said MDOT’s proposed plans do not necessarily show that businesses would lose parking or other space. In his own case, plans show that he could be impacted, depending on which way the road was developed. “And building a bypass to the east of Port Gibson would run right through a flood plain,” he added.

Kane Ditto, archives and history board president, noted MDOT  has been “quiet for a while.”

MDOT Executive Director Butch Brown also has met with the locals and said his agency is under a legislative mandate to move ahead.

Along Church Street, trees remain encircled with yellow “caution” tape. “We put that up because we consider this a crime scene,” said Elizabeth Hollingsworth, whose home lies just south of St. Joseph’s. “These trees are so stressed that if a draught happens, they will just succumb.” Stress comes from both vibrations and exhaust fumes from passing traffic.

But Nasif said that nothing in the interim has caused him to change his stance against a bypass. “I still feel that it’s not in the best interests of the town.”

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Contact Pam Hitchins at phitchins@vicksburgpost.com.