Utilities relocation along South Frontage Road could soon get underway if the Mississippi Transportation Commission gives its blessing to the third revision of a project agreement between the city and the Mississippi Department of Transportation.

City attorney Nancy Thomas said the project is on the commission’s Tuesday meeting agenda.

The utilities relocation is the final project before MDOT can begin work on the South Frontage Road extension to link the east and west sides of the road with a bridge spanning the Kansas City Southern Railroad tracks that now separate the road.

“We’re ready to go,” Thomas said. “I’m hoping that everything will be approved by the commission on Tuesday and we’ll issue a notice to proceed (to the contractor) on Wednesday. It’s 20 years in the making and we’ve got to get this done before they can start building a bridge.”

The Board of Mayor and Aldermen in April awarded a $1.576 million bid to relocate the utility lines to Hemphill Construction of Florence. The bid, Thomas said was more than triple the original estimate for the project in 2016.

“In 2016, MDOT’s estimate for the project was $426,730 and the engineering fees were $193,585,” she said. “In 2018, we awarded a $1,576,519 bid for the project and the engineering fees were $442,394.”

When the board awarded the contract for the project, the city had received MDOT’s approval to proceed with the work. That changed, Thomas said, when the utility agreements were reviewed and officials realized the updated engineering fees were not included, causing the agreement to be amended. MDOT also wanted project engineer Waggoner Engineering to have an onsite inspector during the project.

The board approved a new engineering agreement with Waggoner at a special meeting Wednesday.

“This is a long time coming; we have got to get this going,” Mayor George Flaggs Jr. said Wednesday. Flaggs, a former state representative, and South Ward Alderman Alex Monsour, who represented House District 55 in the Legislature, worked to get the funding for the extension project.

“We have got to get this done,” Flaggs said. “If we don’t build another bridge in Vicksburg, we need this bridge going forward. I think the timing could not be better. When you look at what’s going on around the outlet mall, they’re losing businesses; I think this will be an enhancement to the outlet mall and the waterpark that’s been negotiated to go there.”

Under the project agreement, MDOT and the city will split the cost of the utilities relocation, with MDOT paying 100 percent of the cost of relocating the sewer lines, 72 percent of the waterline relocation and 49 percent of gas line relocation.

Extending South Frontage Road has been under discussion for about 20 years.

In 2007, a Federal Highway Administration study issued a “finding of no significant impact,” clearing the way for the project. Four years later, in 2011, the Mississippi Department of Transportation bought five properties along the road to secure rights of way for the project, and in April 2014, the Legislature approved $4 million in its fiscal 2015 highway budget to begin planning the South Frontage Road expansion and later added another $14 million.