Groups wanting to use picturesque views of the Mississippi River from the old U.S. 80 bridge as a backdrop for social events will have to comply with county policy on special events.

Two novel requests have been made to the Vicksburg Bridge Commission to use some portion of the bridge’s approach as a venue for gatherings.

The Missisisppi River Parkway Commission approached the panel in person Wednesday about incorporating the bridge into the group’s April 2008 conference, to be based at the Vicksburg Convention Center.

Local chairman Faye Wilkinson asked the commission if up to 100 yards of the bridge’s roadbed on the Mississippi side could be used to be the site of food and entertainment for members attending the conference.

“Our primary focus is to make U.S. 61 from Minneapolis to the Gulf a scenic byway,” Wilkinson said, referencing the drive by the organization, which promotes culture and tourism in the 10 states that border the river.

Commissioners said staging any kind of social gathering at the bridge’s approach would require a certificate of insurance and could run afoul of ongoing concrete replacement and the anticipated start of work to stabilize the 77-year-old structure.

“Warren County would be happy to see you out there,” Chairman Robert Moss said, adding the impending construction would likely preclude the commission’s approval of the idea.

Commissioners told Wilkinson the participants must comply with the provisions of the bridge’s special events policy, guidelines which superintendent Herman Smith said later entail providing insurance and all participants signing hold harmless agreements as with the annual Over The River Run, which had its route changed this past year by its organizers onto Old Highway 27 and North Frontage Road because of work on the roadbed.

A similar request made by Ameristar spokesman Bess Averett about having a Vicksburg-Warren Chamber of Commerce social on the bridge next spring received the same response from the panel. The roadbed has been closed to vehicles for most of the past 20 years. The commissioners, appointed by supervisors, have made little progress on the idea of obtaining grants to convert it into a pedestrian park. Kansas City Southern trains use the tracks on the bridge steadily and the company has steadfastly objected to having people on the bridge for safety reasons.

Otherwise, the commission OK’d a request by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to place small, electronic devices resembling Thermos bottles, which would track migration patterns of sturgeon, a species of fish not native to the Lower Mississippi River system.

Paul Hartfield, an endangered species biologist with the Department of Interior unit, said such devices are being placed at bridges between St. Louis and New Orleans as part of a five-year effort to track the species’ movements.

As for the work to stabilize pier 2, the panel decided again to leave its authorization to advertise the project tabled.

Commissioners want more legal review of preliminary plans drawn up by HNTB, their contact structural engineers, plus time to confer with the firm and officials with Kansas City Southern Railway and natural gas companies with lines running near the bridge.

“We need as many bidders as we can,” Moss said.

Train traffic and speeds were sure to be reduced during the project, which would involve repairing a wind-shear device replacement of support bearings and concrete atop the pier.

Shifting soil and up to 9 inches of movement in the past decade on pier 2 have prompted commissioners to embark on a $2.5 million project to shore up ground movement against the bridge’s shorter piers. A soil-anchoring project has been mentioned as the likeliest long-term fix for deep-earth movement in Pier 2, which could cost in excess of $10 million.

Wednesday’s meeting was convened with just four members, as the resignation letter of Hugh “Winky” Freeman was accepted by the commission.

Freeman resigned in October after a state Ethics Commission opinion stating his status as a railroad industry employee created a potential conflict of interest.

A replacement is not likely until Warren County supervisors begin a new term Jan. 1, when incoming supervisor Bill Lauderdale is expected to make an appointment.

Another former commission member, the late Raymond V. Ray, was honored by the commission with a resolution commending his 25 years of service on the bridge authority.