An Illinois company has been hired to survey and determine the condition of the city’s streets.

The Board of Mayor and Aldermen Tuesday approved a $143,500 contract with Applied Research Associates Inc. of Champaign, Ill., to do the survey, which will be used to develop a priority list for street paving in the future.

“This is a company we have utilized before to assess our road surfaces to determine which are in the worst condition and need paving, so that if and when we do any projects, we’ll have some means to go by for prioritizing which ones to pave,” City Attorney Nancy Thomas said.

“They will do a survey of all the streets in Vicksburg and give us a list of the streets that we need to take care of immediately and provide us with a plan,” Public Works Director Garner Van Norman said. He said the city’s last street survey was in 2002.

According to information provided by ARA, the company will perform a computerized survey of the streets, using cameras and lasers to determine street conditions. It will also provide a pavement management program to help city officials with setting paving priorities and budget and develop a road improvements plan.

The contract came a week after the board meeting as the city’s capital improvements committee reviewed a list of projects totaling $17.6 million topped by a street-paving program estimated at $10 million.

South Ward Alderman Willis Thompson has emphasized paving as a priority for a capital improvements program.

“We need paving done all over the city, and if we can get this firm to come in and give us a list by priority, that puts us in a place where we can recognize the streets that have the most need of resurfacing,” Thompson said. “It’s just a fair way of doing it instead of going out and choosing a few streets here and a few streets there.”