Money eyed for road to port takes another step

Published 12:01 am Saturday, May 3, 2014

The state has given an awaited approval to Warren County to move $500,000 in grant money to shoring up the main access into the Port of Vicksburg from a withering project to clear city bayous.
With the permission in hand from the Mississippi Development Authority, county supervisors must nail down the scope of work on Haining Road and start by Dec. 31 to keep the spigot flowing, officials said this week.
In March, the Board of Supervisors voted to redirect the funds to the port, where subsurface erosion is a constant issue along Haining Road and Industrial Drive.
In 2012, the county matched a $1.5 million federal highway grant to rebuild the ridge on which the latter runs.
Washouts beneath the road are accelerating due to ground movement, county engineers said. Low-lying swaths of land adjacent to Haining and Industrial Drive sat in floodwater for a month during the Mississippi River Flood of 2011.
“Right now, it’s the big thing that needs to be fixed,” Board President Bill Lauderdale said.
The county is expected to formally apply to MDA to use the money at the port.
The funds stem from a $3.9 million Katrina-related disaster assistance grant the county received in 2008 and put toward clearing Glass, Stouts and Hatcher bayous of debris. Riprap was placed along canal walls at Glass Bayou in 2010-11, but complex dealings to buy out private property along Stouts and Hatcher bayous either changed or stalled later phases of the endeavor.
County Engineer John McKee told supervisors this week the area needs to be “re-seeded” in areas where soil is sliding. Grass mowing has been a point of debate between the city and county for years at the site.
The roads themselves are maintained by the city.
The county contends that responsibility extends to the supporting earth and has cited an attorney general’s opinion from 2001 officials say confirms municipal responsibility.

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