Work on the Wisconsin connector road could be completed by Oct. 19, the Board of Mayor and Aldermen learned Monday.

But Mayor George Flaggs Jr. said it could be a bit longer before the city opens the road to traffic.

“Just because the road will be completed doesn’t mean it will be ready for cars to travel (on),” he said. “It will be up to us. That will probably be something (Public Works Director) Garnet (Van Norman) will have to decide.”

The board learned of the completion date through a change order request from Dirt Works, project’s contractor, totaling $19,500 to install a conflict box in a section of the road to resolve a problem involving an existing sewer line remaining from the former Battlefield Mall, which once occupied the site.

The added work increased the project cost from $966,935 to $1.015 million. The city has a $1.3 million low-interest CAP loan from the Mississippi Development Authority for the road.

Van Norman said after the meeting a conflict box is a structure that allows a utility line to be installed without affecting an existing line.

“You really can’t ignore those old lines; they may still be good,” he said.

The connector road runs between the River Hills Bank property and the site of the Cannon Honda and Cannon Toyota dealerships that are being built west of the bank to connect North Frontage with Wisconsin Avenue.

The board awarded the contract to Dirt Works in April with an expected completion date in September, but weather and a problem with the soil in one area of the project site forced the deadline to be pushed back. The city also had to reach agreement with River Hills Bank to repair construction damage to its parking lot before it could get the final permit from the Mississippi Department of Transportation.

Plans for the road began in 2014 after a decision by the city’s Planning and Zoning Commission to rezone a 22-acre tract along North Frontage owned by JEBCO LLC, the parent company for Blackburn Motors, from C-4 commercial to planned use development, which opened the way for the road.

A planned use development, or PUD, designation allows light industrial operations, clearing the way for the city to apply for the MDA loan.