Congratulations to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Engineering Research and Development Center on the groundbreaking for the facility’s new headquarters here in Vicksburg.

The construction of the ERDC’s $51 million, 142,000 square foot building will bring together the best and the brightest — administrators and staffers — who have previously been doing their work scattered in different facilities located all over its 700 acre campus.

Construction of the new facility is expected to take about 28 months.

ERDC Director Dr. Jeff Holland said, “Our people provide innovative solutions for a better world every single day. This ceremony is not a celebration of a new building. The ceremony is a celebration of the people who have earned this building through dedicated professionalism, selfless service and a commitment to excellence.”

U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., who attended Tuesday’s ground breaking ceremony, is right when he calls the new headquarters building an investment for the future. He said it is the largest single federal investment of any city and county in the state’s 2nd Congressional District, which Thompson represents.That investment surely impacts future economic growth in Vicksburg. Vicksburg Mayor George Flaggs Jr. said ERDC’s annual research budget exceeds $2 billion.

The new building, when complete, will house executive offices, as well as the offices of health services, safety, security, equal employment opportunity, contracting, internal review, the director of public works, public affairs and resource management and the office of counsel.

The work of those at ERDC is something of which Vicksburg is proud. Discoveries and innovation at that facility impacts lives all over the world.

The ERDC facility is one of the leading engineering research organizations in the world and the entire community’s quality of life is enhanced because it is here in our city and county.