Erosion threatening a section of North Union Avenue in the Vicksburg National Military Park forced park officials Thursday to close the road between Grant Avenue and the USS Cairo Museum to traffic.

Park spokesman Scott Babinowich said a park maintenance crew discovered the problem Thursday morning. He said the road is closed until further notice, adding park crews are looking at the area and doing an emergency assessment to determine the impact to the road.

“It’s right there by the Navy Monument as you approach it, and it’s (the erosion) on the downward slope of the road,” he said. “The leading edge fell away and actually took part of the shoulder and a little part of the road with it. It’s a pretty substantial erosion issue that happened overnight with these rains. It has undermined the roadbed a little bit.”

North Union is the second park road to be closed because of erosion.

Park officials in September closed Confederate Avenue from Fort Hill to Graveyard Road in the park   after the road was left in an unstable and dangerous condition after a large section of soil eroded under the roadbed because of heavy rains.