How to bypass the 67-year-old bridge on Confederate Avenue to allow for the four-laning of Halls Ferry Road will be studied anew by the City of Vicksburg.

The Board of Mayor and Aldermen signed a contract Tuesday with consulting engineers Neel-Schaffer Inc. of Jackson to conduct a feasibility study of widening Halls Ferry Road between North Frontage Road and Bowmar Avenue. The engineering firm will also look at possible improvements along North Washington Street north of the harbor entrance, Clay Street, Oak Street and a connector road between U.S. 61 South and Halls Ferry Road near the Engineers Research and Development Center.

“These are things that we’ve talked about, and what we’re doing is finding out what they cost and if they make sense,” said Mayor Laurence Leyens.

The projects have been on and off drafting tables for years.

Halls Ferry Road, one of the busiest streets in Vicksburg, passes under the brick bridge along Confederate Avenue, which is too narrow to allow for four lanes of traffic. The bridge, built in 1935, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and cannot be altered, so officials are looking at moving Halls Ferry. In the area, however, there are homes, a medical clinic and a dropoff on the west side and a steep bluff on the east side.

Widening Halls Ferry could also mean moving some monuments along Confederate Avenue that belong to the National Park Service. The land there, once part of the Vicksburg National Military Park, was granted to the city about 40 years ago in a deal with the park service that left the monuments in place along the side of the road, said Bill Nichols, superintendent of the park.

If the cost is too high, the city will not take up the work, Leyens said.

“We don’t have enough money to do them all so we’re trying to prioritize,” he said.

The contract with Neel-Schaffer is a fee-based agreement with a $75,000 cap on the cost of the study. Other projects in the study will be mostly cosmetic, including lighting, sidewalks and landscaping along main corridors.

“One of the goals of the project is to improve the north entrance to downtown,” Leyens said of improvements being looked at along North Washington Street.

Earlier this year, Neel-Schaffer completed a $100,000 study of intersections throughout the city that identified seven traffic signals that should be removed along with $1.6 million in short-term improvements. City officials said Tuesday they will move forward with those improvements, which include installing tether cables on traffic signals, installing overhead street signs and replacing traffic signal lights with LED lights, as soon as funding is approved by the state.

In other matters the city board:

Accepted bids for renovations of the Vicksburg Convention Center basement.

Accepted bids for new ambulances to be stationed at Kings and U.S. 61 South.

Approved Christmas advertising in The Vicksburg Post at a cost of $601.

Approved Main Street holiday advertising at a cost of $721.

Reappointed Fred Katzenmeyer to the city Planning Commission and the Zoning Board of Appeals for four years.

Approved days off for city employees on Dec. 24 and 25 and Jan. 1.

Authorized the city clerk to advertise for sealed bids for the sale of two flat barges at City Front.

Amended the city’s garbage collection ordinance to exempt small businesses that contract for garbage collection from paying for city curbside collection service.

Received proposals for the city’s liability insurance.

The city board will meet again at 10 a.m. Monday at City Hall Annex.