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NATCHEZ — Another round of bidding for work on Phase 2 of the long-awaited Morgantown Road improvement project is set to be advertised on Friday, April 26, said George Ford, a representative of IMS, the county’s engineering firm.

Those bids should be opened on Friday, May 23, at 5 p.m.

The Adams County Board of Supervisors at its meeting Monday morning, and the Natchez Board of Aldermen at a special meeting on Monday, approved advertising for bids for the project.

Phase 2 of the Morgantown Road project is the first part of construction. This marks the third time phase 2 of the project has been out for bid. When the project was bid out in April 2023 and in August 2023, bids came back that were higher than the budget for the project allows.

IMS has redesigned Phase 2 of the project, which addresses drainage on Morgantown Road, partly in the hope of reducing the cost of the project and partly to account for utilities underground.

Phase 2 is being paid for with grant funds from the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality and county and city funds derived from the CARES Act.

“Let’s pray this project comes (within) budget so we can begin work on Morgantown Road,” said Natchez Mayor Dan Gibson at the city’s meeting Monday morning.