It’s still all about safety and liability when it comes to Kansas City Southern Railroad’s opposition to a recreation area on the old U.S. 80 bridge in Vicksburg, according to a response to the designated point of contact for a group yearning for face time with the rail operator.

Converting the former road bed of the 84-year-old, county-owned Mississippi River crossing to a pedestrian walkway and bicycle path would put the public and railroad at risk — so says the railroad’s most recent anti-park manifesto, sent in the form of a letter to attorney A.J. “Buddy” Dees. Dees was the designated point of contact for Friends of the Vicksburg Bridge, made up of mostly local lawyers, industrialists and others.

Creation of a recreational trail “a very few feet from an active commercial freight railroad in the confined space of a bridge” is “contrary” to what KCS says is a goal of being a steward of safety on its rails, read part of the letter, dated Wednesday and authored by attorney Betty Toon Collins, of Jackson-based law firm Wise Carter Child & Carraway, the railroad’s outside counsel.

The letter was sent via regular mail to Vicksburg and Warren County officials and via email to Dees’ personal inbox, where it apparently sat while Dees was out of town last week. Copies were to be mailed via U.S. mail to the Friends group, City Hall, the Warren County Board of Supervisors, the Vicksburg Warren County Chamber of Commerce, and the Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau.

KCS’ response is reminiscent of an aggressive letter-writing campaign in 2006 to nearly every significant elected official in Mississippi that halted the last major effort on the county’s part to find money to build a park. Still, Dees said Saturday the response means a dialogue has begun.

“Obviously, our task is to now formulate a response that will address KCS’ safety concerns and demonstrate that recreational use of the bridge can certainly coexist with the railroad’s usage of the bridge,” Dees said Saturday.  “There is currently no set date for that response.”

KCS also mentioned the possibility of terrorism if the road portion of the bridge was opened to traffic, noting the Department of Homeland Security has identified the bridge a critical infrastructure. The letter also outlined any use of the bridge besides moving vehicles and/or trains would constitute a breach of the current lease between the county and Meridian Speedway LLC, the latter of which is a joint venture between KCS and Norfolk Southern Railway Co. that covers more than 300 miles of line between Meridian and Shreveport, La.

In sum, the letter indicates, public support is irrelevant in light of safety concerns.

“Notwithstanding any community support for the development of a recreational area on the bridge, the railroad is in the best position to recognize the potential hazards involved in its operations and thus must look beyond the public appeal of developing the trail,” read the letter.

Dees, along with Linda Fondren, Steve Golding, John Golding, Kane Ditto, J. Mack Varner, Hunter Fordice, Robert Morrison III, Linnie Wheeless and Hugh “Winky” Freeman have been named as members of the Friends group. U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson leant a supporting voice in recent weeks, urging in a letter of his own Oct. 27 that the project was worthy of at least a meeting.

The 1.6-mile bridge owned by Warren County and managed by the five-member Vicksburg Bridge Commission closed to vehicles in 1998 over safety concerns, voiced mainly by the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development. Louisiana maintains the Interstate 20 bridge and stopped allocating money to the U.S. 80 bridge on west side of the state line after it closed to vehicles.

Tolls paid by KCS per rail car support the bridge commission budget, which is dedicated nearly exclusively to maintenance. Special events on the bridge’s roadbed have spiked in the past half-decade since the Over The River Run started in 1989.

KCS has opposed two major efforts to finance a walkway with federal highway money since the bridge closed to vehicles. The most recent was in 2006, when KCS opposed it in writing to state and federal legislators from Vicksburg, including Thompson, the Mississippi Department of Transportation and then-Gov. Haley Barbour.

Bridge commissioners’ vote to support the last effort was unanimous. This past week, most of the panel held back support for the latest push, citing funding.

Supporters of a park have referenced a conversion of the Harahan Bridge in Memphis as proof such an idea could work. The structure is owned by Union Pacific Railroad and is expected to be turned into a walkway and bike path with the help of a $30 million federal highway grant secured by the City of Memphis.