Potential funding for a proposed new multimodal port for Warren County will be a top priority for local officials when the meet with the state’s congressional delegation and other federal officials Monday in Washington, D.C.

The visit is an annual trip to give city and county officials and business and civic leaders an opportunity to meet with federal officials to discuss potential economic and tourism programs for the area.

“The idea of the new port is really the top of the agenda, following up with the what the mayor has done (in Washington) and the contacts he has made,” Vicksburg-Warren Chamber of Commerce executive director Pablo Diaz said. While officials have an artist’s rendering of the proposed port facility, Diaz said no site has been determined.

Mayor George Flaggs Jr. discussed the port in February when he was part of a state delegation that met with President Donald Trump.

Flaggs called the proposed $125 million port “a game changer by itself. That’s 500 jobs and creating more opportunities for Vicksburg than ever before, because that’s a whole different port and it’s been thought out what we need in order to become competitive.”

He said Gov. Phil Bryant presented the multimodal port plan to the president’s infrastructure committee.

Diaz said the officials will also seek federal funding for improvements including dredging for the existing Port of Vicksburg, and will discuss replacing the Kemp Bottom Road bridge and its effect on potential economic development for Entergy in the area

Another major agenda item is the $19 million Mississippi Hardware project to convert the former garment factory and hardware building into a multi-floor innovation and tech transfer center to serve the Vicksburg area and the central Mississippi region.

The building would also house entrepreneurship programs and the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center’s graduate school programs.

Other items on the agenda include:

• Seeking funds for the $7 million U.S. 61 North bypass road that is expected to shorten the distance between the highway and Interstate 20 as well as reroute 18-wheelers away from downtown, and money to widen Interstate 20 and improve the U.S. 80 interchange.

• Funding for improvements and the expansion of the Vicksburg National Military Park, and increased funding for the Jesse Brent Lower Mississippi Museum and Interpretive Center.