Work is expected to begin next week to move a 36-inch concrete water main at Washington and Jackson streets that was thrown into jeopardy during a March 26 land shift.

At a special called meeting Wednesday afternoon, the Vicksburg Board of Mayor and Aldermen approved a contract with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers — which has agreed to pay for the $1.36 million project — clearing the way for the city to get a contract in place with Hemphill Construction of Vicksburg.

“Starting the first part of next week, we hope to see a contractor on site,” Public Works Director Bubba Rainer told the board following the meeting. “We will issue them a notice to proceed probably on Monday or Tuesday, and from that point they’ll have 30 days to complete the project.”

The pipe — a vital link in daily water service to the city’s 10,000 metered customers from its water treatment plant at the Vicksburg Harbor north of town — is being re-routed one block around the site of the land shift via Main, Walnut and Jackson streets.

Washington Street has been closed from Jackson to Main since the land shift, which was discovered by Corps contract workers who had been doing nearby groundwork on an interpretive center and museum at the dry-docked MV Mississippi IV since November. While the Corps did not admit causing the land shift — which also left parts of Washington Street cracked and sagging — it agreed to pay for a relocation shortly after the incident.

The city, meanwhile, has been in charge of identifying the new route for the pipe and getting it under contract. An emergency was declared by the mayor and aldermen shortly after the land shift, clearing the way to get proposals instead of sealed bids on the work. Rainer said Hemphill Construction came in with the lowest proposal of several gathered.

Rainer said none of the city’s customers should experience any water outages during the relocation.

“If it goes according to plan, there will be no outages,” he said.