The U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service and the city of Vicksburg have signed a grant agreement to help cover the cost of a major drainage project on Sherman Avenue in the Kings community.

The Board of Mayor and Aldermen approved the agreement at a special meeting last week. According to the grant documents, the NRCS will cover about $495,008 of the project’s estimated $645,010 cost, with the city paying $150,002.

Mayor George Flaggs Jr. said the city’s share will come from the $1 million in capital fund money set aside for improvements in Kings. The drainage project, he said, was one of the projects requested by the residents.

North Ward Alderman Michael Mayfield said the project will start on the north side of Sherman Avenue Park at Sherman and Union avenues, go around the back of Union and include a hillside that has serious erosion problems.

“We are going to have to remove some very large trees in that area,” Mayfield said, adding the city had to acquire easements on tracts of private property for the project.

The Kings community has been plagued with problems caused by water and mud coming off properties east of North Washington Street and clogging drains and culverts with mud, and causing storm water to back up and flood North Washington and Kings.

Mayfield said the plans for the project call for a new drainage channel that will be lined with riprap, a loose stone used to line the banks of the drainage areas to prevent erosion.

“This project is going to make a big difference in Kings,” Mayfield said.