The City of Vicksburg is getting $4 million in state Local Improvements Projects Funds to replace the Hatcher Bayou bridge on Fisher Ferry Road.

The Board of Mayor and Aldermen on Monday approved an agreement with the Mississippi Department of Finance and Administration for the money, which will be combined with other available state money for the $10 million project to replace the bridge.

Mayor George Flaggs Jr. said Monday that work has already begun on the project.

“We’re working on it,” he said. “The engineers are working on it.”

Besides the $4 million in local project funds, Flaggs said the City has received $6 million in state Department of Transportation Emergency Road and Bridge Funds.

The bridge is north of the entrance to Sports Force Parks on the Mississippi on Fisher Ferry, which is the main access road to the sports complex. The Vicksburg city line goes down the center of the bridge, putting its west side in the city and the east side in Warren County.

City officials applied for emergency road and bridge funds in 2021 to cover the cost of improvements to the bridge and hired Stantec at a cost not to exceed $7,500 to evaluate the bridge’s problems.

Initial plans called for the city to keep the existing bridge open while the new span is being built next to it.