More barges floated past the Mississippi River bridges in Vicksburg on Thursday and early this morning as a bottleneck south of Greenville began to ease.

Still, low-water restrictions remain in effect along an 11-mile stretch of the river at Greenville until further notice, the Coast Guard said.

“The water is still low in that area,” spokesman Lt. Ryan Gomez said. “It’ll be restricted until we get more ideal water conditions.”

All southbound tows were cleared to pass through a 5-mile safety zone on Thursday and about 20 waited this morning to go north, Gomez said. Up to 105 barges were stranded Tuesday when the river closed briefly after barges ran aground on sand bars brought on by the drought-lowered river.

Stages in Vicksburg were 0.19 feet this morning, down almost a tenth since Thursday. The record low in the city is minus 7 feet in 1940.

At Greenville, the river fell another tenth overnight, to 7.49 feet. In Memphis, the river was minus 9.3 feet this morning, up a tenth.

Dredging crews are active along the river in several states, trying to keep open a navigable channel. Weather forecasters say the Mississippi could remain low until October.

Four Corps-owned and four contract vessels continued to dredge the river between St. Louis and Vicksburg, including the Vicksburg-based Jadwin south of Greenville.

Today, the Corps expects to award a $6.1 million contract to Illinois-based Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Co. to clear parts of east banks of the river starting about Sept. 7. The Butcher, a contract dredge, will work near Lake Providence, where barges have collected due to low water, until mid-September.

The Corps’ Vicksburg District awarded a second phase of flood control worth $5.6 million on the Steele Bayou channel in the mid-Delta, according to a news release Thursday.

To relocate the channel, Jackson-based Tri-County Contractors Inc. will excavate about 1.72 miles of new channel, raise 3.6 miles of existing earthen levees, build 3,800 feet of new levee and move 1,476 feet of a county-maintained gravel road in the Yazoo National Wildlife Refuge in Washington County, the release said.