Drainage problems in four areas of Vicksburg have forced the Board of Mayor and Aldermen to approve a contract not to exceed $60,000 with consulting engineer Stantec to develop a plan for improvements.

Public Works Director Garnet Van Norman said the four problem areas are off Highland Place, Fort Hill Drive, Manship Circle in Fox Run Subdivision and at the end of Arcadia and Dabney streets.

“The pipes have broken over the years and washed out, and in two locations, Manship Circle and Highland Place, the problems have gotten close to a house,” Van Norman said. “We’re going to have to go in, hire a contractor, get easements to go on property, and develop a plan to fix them.

“We have another problem on Williams Road, but we’re going to try and do the work in that one ourselves. These are problems we’ve had for a while and been unable to get to, and we need to do something.”

The majority of the city’s storm drain system is more than 100 years old, and has caused problems in the past with damaged lines sucking in dirt and undermining city street roadbeds, causing sink holes and threatening the streets.

Probably one of the more recent problems for the city is on Manship Circle, in Fox Run, which the city took over in 2014. The subdivision was developed in the 1990s by JMS Builders Inc., a Pearl company that, according to the Mississippi Secretary of State’s office, has dissolved. Its principle owners have all since died.

The subdivision was not accepted by the city after it was built because the roads and storm drainage system were not built to city standards. The roads were never paved until the city began its paving project in 2015 under its $9.2 million bond issue.