Dump trucks for Kanza Construction Co. were moving dirt and laying it alongside the tunnel covering the Kansas City Southern Railroad tracks at the Washington Bridge site Tuesday in the first visible activity since early August.

The increased activity comes as Kansas City Southern prepares to ask for more time to complete the project. Vicksburg Mayor Paul Winfield said the Board of Mayor and Aldermen are expected to discuss the railroad’s extension request Friday.

The site had been quiet through most of August and earlier this month, but acting Vicksburg public works director Garnet Van Norman and an official with Kanza, the project subcontractor, said work has never stopped at the site.

“We’ve been busy,” said Ben Vascellaro, Kanza safety director. “We’ve always been doing something.”

Kanza has run a series of classified ads in The Vicksburg Post looking for experienced dump truck drivers to work at the site.

“We’re ramping up our operations, and we’re trying several avenues to find drivers,” he said. “We’ve had some success finding good drivers.”

Built in 1929, the 82-year-old bridge was closed to all traffic Jan. 29, 2009, after accelerating erosion on the support banks threatened the span. It was the second time the bridge had been closed. A partial collapse of one of the banks in the 1980s had forced city officials to close the bridge for a year for repairs.