Improving rail tracks, stopping soil sloughing and continuing work to address support beams could pump capital spending on the old U.S. 80 bridge across the Mississippi River to more than $1.8 million, according to a budget adopted Wednesday by the Vicksburg Bridge Commission.

The $2.7 million spending plan could grow if projects progress, or shrink to less than $1 million if natural gas lines near unstable bulkheads on the Mississippi side aren’t moved and 1,500 cross ties aren’t replaced this year.

This month, Shiloh Contractors Inc. began repairing a cracked easterly floor beam and corroded cover plate above pier 5 and disjointed girders above a shorter concrete pier on the Louisiana side. That project, pegged at $637,754 in the bid, is planned with the anti-erosion and rail work.

The gas lines, owned by Gulf South Pipeline, obstruct the main path of shoring up the east bank. Talks with the firm on how to move the lines have dragged into a third year. Kansas City Southern is expected to contract out the rail tie project, the cost of which will be reimbursed with bridge funds. Commissioners have asked KCS for a cost estimate in advance of any payments.