Girder beams are nearly complete on part of what will be a new four-lane bridge connecting port-driven businesses along E.W. Haining Road and North Washington Street, with completion still set for spring 2011.

Madison-based builders Key LLC began work in earnest in April as traffic moved onto part of a new bridge capable of handling heavier trucks headed to the Port of Vicksburg.

The $6.8 million replacement is funded with a Katrina-related disaster recovery grant secured by Warren County.

The current bridge dates to the late 1950s and will be taken down once the new one is traffic-ready. Cars and trucks traveling to and from the port have used two lanes alongside the current construction area.

Work to improve the intersection is estimated to soak up about $500,000 of the available funds, according to the project’s financial statements.

Farther south, traffic might move onto a new road near Washington and Clark streets in about two weeks as the first phase of a multimillion-dollar replacement of a bridge with a road-topped railway tunnel is completed.