Words of support were abundant, but local officials got no funding guarantees for the long-stalled Washington Street bridge replacement project while lobbying local delegates in Washington, D.C., this week.

How to pay for a road-topped railway tunnel hit a snag last year when the $5 million the City of Vicksburg had set aside for the work ran headlong into an $8.6 million price.

The city had earmarked the $5 million in a $16.9 million bond issue approved in 2006 for phased road paving, recreation area development and other improvements. The bridge has been closed and traffic detoured from the main north-south city corridor since Jan. 23, 2009. Finding additional funding for the project topped the wish list presented by local elected officials and business leaders to their federal counterparts.

Mayor Paul Winfield, who also lobbied local delegates on a solo trip to Washington in December, said Sens. Thad Cochran, Roger Wicker and U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson all voiced support for the project once again. Although Congress passed a $787 billion stimulus bill a year ago with billions allocated to “shovel-ready” community projects, the tunnel at Clark Street, which was “shovel ready” did not get funds from that source.

Winfield said the best bet for funding might be to make a formal request for an earmark in the 2010-11 federal budget, which begins in October. Whenever the work starts, Kansa Construction, which won the bid, expects it to take a year.

“We believe, just based on our discussions, that a special appropriation is going to be the best way to get this thing funded,” the mayor said.

Winfield said an earmark might be possible in the national transportation bill. The formal request will be made by the end of March, he speculated.

“We should know by July,” Winfield said.

If federal funds can’t be secured, it appears it’s still possible state dollars could bridge the funding gap.

Most who trekked to the nation’s capital were advised to search out traditional means to secure money — but without a clear consensus.

“The response we got was positive,” said Warren County Port Commission Executive Director Wayne Mansfield. “There’s a couple of different approaches we can use.”

Mansfield was most confident the structure can be returned to the list of crossings eligible for state funds via the Mississippi Department of Transportation. The bridge, essentially a nexus between the casino-dominated riverfront portion of Washington Street and older neighborhoods dotting areas to the north, was once maintained by the state before the construction of Interstate 20 and the U.S. 61 bypass around most of Vicksburg proper. It now appears on MDOT’s State Aid Road Construction directory as owned by the city and thus ineligible for Local System Bridge Program funds.

“I think we can get it on there,” Mansfield said, adding Winfield reiterated during the trip he planned to meet with Central District Commissioner Dick Hall and MDOT executive director Butch Brown to discuss the possibility.

This week, Hall cited dwindling tax collections and the state budget crisis as a whole for the evaporation of State Aid money available to counties statewide. Warren County’s allocation has gone down more than 30 percent in the past four years. Winfield said he delivered a letter of support for the bridge replacement from Hall to local delegates.

Hope still remains some type of federal infrastructure grant may come available, District 1 Supervisor David McDonald said, despite early talk of a second stimulus package from Congress does not appear likely.

“It’s our main push. I think we’ll get some money for it,” McDonald said. “It’s the (entities) most willing to put up a match that has the better chance of getting grants. It kind of moves it to the top of the list.”

In other items touted by the local contingent was the Rural Renewal Community Program zone, which was afforded a one-year extension by Congress. Areas designated in the zone are eligible for an array of infrastructure and employment-related tax credits.

Inclusion of the Port of Vicksburg and Ceres Research and Industrial Interplex in the program would be vital to business recruitment, Mansfield said.

“The issue there is that workers have to live and work inside the district for (businesses) to get the credit,” he said.

Another longer-range plan to build a countywide sewer system outside the city to encourage more residential development to impress companies shopping to locate here remains in the study phase, with a draft pegged at about $350,000 to $500,000. A connected system would eliminate the need for individual septic systems that face costly regulations from state environmental officials.

“It’s paramount we start moving in that direction because of the housing opportunities,” Mansfield said. Potential commercial development on U.S. 61 North, for example, could “make that blow up like County Line Road,” Mansfield has said, with reference to a corridor around Northpark Mall just north of Jackson city limits.

About 15 to 20 people from Vicksburg and Warren County make the annual trip to meet with delegates and aides to seek federal dollars to fund local projects and initiatives. The travelers’ airfare and lodging are paid for by the respective boards and bureaus they represent. Business representatives and other individual travelers pay their own way.

Along with Winfield, Mansfield and McDonald, others who made this year’s three-day trip included City Attorney Lee Davis Thames Jr., Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau Executive Director Bill Seratt, Southern Cultural and Heritage Center Executive Director Annette Kirklin, Vicksburg-Warren County Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Christi Kilroy, Vicksburg Main Street Program Executive Director Kim Hopkins, Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace and attorney David Sessums.

Washington officials have praised the locals for making the contacts which, through the years, have resulted in many projects being funded.

Contact Danny Barrett Jr.  at dbarrett@vicksburgpost.com

Contact Steve Sanoski at ssanoski@vicksburgpost.com