In preparation for work to resume on the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ $16 million interpretive center and museum at the MV Mississippi IV — halted March 26 by a nearby land shift — the Corps was given permission by the city Tuesday to bore holes for soil samples near the shift site at Washington and Jackson streets.

In a special called meeting, the Vicksburg Board of Mayor and Aldermen OK’d a permit for two ground borings, which Public Works Director Bubba Rainer said will produce soil samples the Corps needs to begin designing a retaining wall along Washington Street included in the interpretive center project.

“They’re anxious to get started again out there,” said Rainer. “One of the borings through Washington Street will be able to be made immediately, but a second one closer to the water pipe under Washington Street will have to wait until we get that pipe rerouted.”

A 36-inch concrete water main running beneath Washington Street — an essential link in service to the city’s roughly 10,000 customers from its water treatment plant on Haining Road — was thrown into jeopardy by the land shift and has been temporarily stabilized. It should be relocated one block east around the shift site via Main, Walnut and Jackson streets in about four weeks, said Rainer.

Officials are hoping to have a contract with Hemphill Construction of Vicksburg signed for the move today or Thursday, he said, at which point Hemphill will have 30 days to complete the job. The Corps has agreed to pay for the $1.36 million relocation.

Ground work on the Corps’ interpretive center began in November, but has been on hold since the land shift, which was discovered by a Corps’ contractor who had been working down slope of the shift site for months. The Corps had previously anticipated a spring 2011 grand opening of the museum, and it is not clear if the land shift will throw the project off schedule.

The ground borings approved Tuesday will allow the Corps to have a retaining wall design finished by the time the pipe is relocated, said Rainer, and resume work on the interpretive center immediately thereafter.

“Usually, a boring will involve drilling about 30 to 35 feet into the ground to collect samples of all the soils beneath. The design is based on what kind of soil they find,” explained Rainer. “They want to have the design finished as soon as possible so they don’t lose any workdays once we have the pipe relocated.”

With the retired MV Mississippi IV as its centerpiece, the $16 million attraction will feature interactive exhibits on the Corps’ efforts to improve navigation and limit flooding on the Mississippi River and its tributaries. Exhibits on life surrounding the lower Mississippi River are also planned, as is a walkway and observation deck.

No water outages are expected during the pipe relocation.

South Ward Alderman Sid Beauman was absent from Tuesday’s meeting, leaving Mayor Paul Winfield and North Ward Alderman Michael Mayfield to OK the permit for ground borings.