Vicksburg’s sewer lines would stretch from City Hall to downtown Memphis. Travel the storm drains in the city and one would travel the distance to Brandon. Stretch out all streets in the city and they would reach from downtown eastward to the Alabama state line. Most of those are older than 100 years.

The amount of Vicksburg’s infrastructure and its age is not yet cause for alarm, but at least cause to be wary. Very little lasts forever and that includes crucial parts of the city.

A plan to attack the cracks and creaks will have to be crafted. Forward-thinking certainly helps.

To date, city officials have adopted an “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” policy for infrastructure repairs. Cost restraints have proved the biggest impediment so far. “There’s not enough money in the world to replace everything that needs to be fixed,” South Ward Alderman Sid Beauman said.

The price tag would soar into the millions. In 2009, a study showed that replacing three main city sewer lines would cost $8.9 million. Generating the funds would require a bond issue, from which political leaders will shy away because of the sour economy.

The city is taking a reactive approach because of financial concerns. Mayor Paul Winfield, never one to shy away from spending the taxpayers’ dollars, said he is in favor of a long-term plan and a bond issue to raise the millions to replace the infrastructure. A bond bill will not be popular with the voters.

Time, though, is the ultimate decision-maker. Eventually it will cost money to fix. It’s whether the residents like the fix-it-when-it-breaks mentality or a grand plan that will decide the future of a part of the city very few people rarely see, but on which everyone relies.