Mayor George Flaggs Jr. heads to Washington Monday to meet with members of the state’s Congressional Delegation and request funding for three projects, including an estimated $10.6 million connector road linking U.S. 61 South to Halls Ferry Road.

Flaggs is expected to meet with delegation members over two days and return Tuesday evening.

The other projects on his list include an intermodal connector road from U.S. 61 North to the Port of Vicksburg, and additional money for the 592 waterline project to provide an auxiliary main waterline for the city.

“The next (presidential) administration has indicated its top priority is infrastructure,” Flaggs said. “The senators and congressmen have indicated to me that these projects could be part of future development.”

He said drawings for the U.S. 61 South connector and the estimated $7 million U.S. 61 North bypass have already been done.

Getting funding for the U.S. 61 South connector road is top on Flaggs’ list when he visits the delegation. According to a map accompanying letters to the delegation, the proposed 2.5-mile road will start at U.S. 61 South east of Rifle Range Road and go east to intersect with Halls Ferry Road just north of the Halls Ferry/Fisher Ferry split.

One reason for the road, he said, is the relocation of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Engineering Research and Development Center’s new headquarters building and the possible construction of a new main entrance for the facility.

“That is a road ERDC will need,” he said. “It will have a significant positive impact on ERDC, when you look at the number of jobs and the headquarters, and the relocation of the headquarters, and the number of people working for ERDC.”

The road, he said, would also provide access to the proposed sports complex on Fisher Ferry Road, and open new areas to residential development.

“That diagram is part of our 20-year plan for future growth,” he said.

Flaggs said the U.S. 61 North bypass will shorten the distance between the highway and Interstate 20 and reroute 18-wheelers away from downtown. Presently, 18-wheelers heading north to the Port of Vicksburg take a route that puts them on Washington Street to Levee Street and then back on Washington creating traffic problems downtown.

The 1.5-mile road will begin on U.S. 61 North across from Bowie Road and go west, intersecting with North Washington Street across from the port entrance on Haining Road.

“It will do two things: remove a safety hazard, because it will take the truck traffic off Washington Street and away from downtown, and shorten the district between the port and I-20,” he said. “It will allow for the expansion of other business because of the tremendous savings from the shorter route, and it will make us competitive and attractive to business from the Continental Tire plant (being built near Clinton).”

Called the “592 project” because of a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers grant funding part of the cost, the city’s waterline project has been on hold since bids for the project came in double or more than double the project’s estimated  $3.565 million budget.

Part of the high bids, city officials said, was because of the backup line’s route, which took it through part of the Vicksburg National Military Park and down the center of Fort Hill Drive to connect with an existing line on Jackson Street.

The board in November 2015 cancelled its contract with IMS Engineers of Jackson, which had been the waterline project engineer since 2010, and hired EJES Engineering, which has an office in Jackson, as the project engineer.

Flaggs said he is seeking an extra $4 million, which he believes will provide sufficient money for the project.

“It is imperative that we get an alternate main water supply to the city if we’re going to do any residential growth in the city or industrial development,” Flaggs said.