Though officials now believe the actual work won’t begin until after June 23, a notice to proceed with construction of the road-topped railway tunnel at Washington and Clark streets was granted Thursday to Kanzaa Construction by the Vicksburg Board of Mayor and Aldermen.

A June 15 groundbreaking date had been announced by officials after they inked the long-awaited contract with Kanzaa at a special called meeting a week ago. But on Thursday, City Attorney Lee Davis Thames said he and others were informed by Kanzaa on Wednesday about the company’s plans to hold a pre-construction meeting on June 23.

“That doesn’t mean they’re not going to come down here before that and take a look at some things, but I doubt any construction will start until after the pre-construction meeting,” Thames said.

The important thing, Thames said, is the clock started ticking Thursday on the 12-month deadline Kanzaa has to complete the tunnel.

“Next year by this time it will be complete, that’s the bottom line,” he said.

Mayor Paul Winfield echoed the attorney.

“I’d rather wait until the 23rd and get it right than hastily jump into it unprepared,” he said. “The contract calls for a 12 month timeline, but the engineer has estimated they can get it done in 10 months, so I’m not really concerned about this.”

A 200-foot, 80-year-old bridge at the site has been closed to all traffic since January a year ago, but it’s problems date back further. Continual erosion of the soil beneath the bridge — which is located about a half-mile from the Mississippi River and crosses a steep cut in the river bank — has caused several temporary closures over the years.

The Topeka, Kan., company is constructing the tunnel in two phases at a maximum cost of $7,889,859 — or not-to-exceed $8.6 million with engineering costs paid to other firms.

Phase one of the project will include the creation of a temporary city street running parallel to the DiamondJacks Casino entrance off Washington Street, just south of the bridge. The casino entrance will be widened to three lanes, two for city traffic and one for the casino. The street will connect with Lee Street and become the detour route until the tunnel is complete.

“They have six months to complete the connector road, and then six to complete the tunnel,” Thames said.

The city agreed to the contract price with Kanzaa last summer, but did not have funding in place to get the work started because the cost had nearly doubled since officials set aside $5 million of a $16.9 million bond is fund for the work in 2006.

The mayor and aldermen got the funds in place in late March by rededicating $3.7 in bond funds — also from the 2006 loan — to the tunnel project. The bond funds were originally earmarked for paving projects in the North Ward and the final phase of the developing sports complex on Fisher Ferry Road. They will be replenished if a $4 million federal earmark the city formally requested of local legislators in February comes through.

The appropriation has made it through committees in the U.S. House and the Senate, and Winfield has said he expects to know this summer if it will get OK’d.

Even after the funding was in place, officials saw a few last minute delays. They originally predicted a mid-April ground-breaking date, and later pushed it back a month due to final contract negotiations.