Nature may have done for Vicksburg in December the very thing that has eluded city tourism leaders for years – get people out of the National Military Park and into downtown.

Signs went up Monday along North Washington Street at Givens Road directing tourists leaving the park to Vicksburg’s downtown area. Givens Road is the first leg of a detour routing vehicles out of the park because a road linking Union and Confederate avenues washed out following heavy rains in December.

Charlotte Koestler Duffey, director of the Vicksburg-Warren Community Alliance Inc., said that an estimated 20,000 vehicles a month are taking the detour which guides them to the northern edge of downtown. With that in mind, the Alliance decided to spend $2,750 on two signs inviting those visitors to venture more into the shopping and dining area.

The money had been budgeted for TV ads that would have been shown in local markets in a 100-mile radius. Some advertising has already been funded by the nonprofit group in the Dallas market.

“We just felt like it didn’t make sense to spend that money on commercials when we’ve got (the tourists) right here already and we’re not telling them where to go now,” Duffey said.

Estimates are that nearly one million people visit the National Military Park each year, but only about 30,000 of those make it to downtown or other attractions in Vicksburg. People in the industry have long talked about how to get people leaving the park to “make that right-hand turn” and head down Clay Street instead of back to Interstate 20 and out of Vicksburg.

One problem has always been that touring the park is often an all-day event.

“People get into the park and they think it’s just a 20-minute tour, but it’s not,” Duffey said.

Since Connecting Avenue was closed almost four months ago by a slide area below Fort Hill, people following park tour maps have been sent on the detour, then routed back to the park tour via First East, Cherry Street and Fort Hill Drive.

The first of the two new signs features the Vicksburg Main Street program design and directs tourists coming out of the park. The second sign at First East Street directs travelers straight into the five downtown blocks of Washington Street.

Rosalie Theobald, director of the Main Street program, said the signs add a welcoming effect.

“The best thing about this is as they are making this park tour they’ll see that we also have a lovely downtown,” Theobald said.

While the city has spent about $8 million in the past three years sprucing up downtown, the area between Givens Road at the Vicksburg Harbor and First East Street is still primarily industrial. Duffey said they are working with Keep Vicksburg Warren Beautiful, Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau, Warren County Port Commission and the city landscaping department to clean up and beautify that area for everyone.

“This is one of the gateways into our city,” Duffey said.

Duffey said they expect the detour to be in place for at least a year while repairs are made to the roadway.