NATCHEZ — Natchez officials said drivers eager for the newest round of street overlays are going to have to wait a little while longer, but not too long.

Natchez City Engineer David Gardner said the city had hoped the overlay project would begin in July, but because of how the project was bid the starting date depends on the contractor, W.E. Blain.

“He has some other pending projects, and as soon as he can catch a break with those projects and move his crews over here to our project, they will,” Gardner said.

“He is confident that it will easily happen in this construction season, which we have several months left in for this year.”

Alderman Tony Fields said the project was bid based on annual asphalt prices rather than using a set start and finish date because a contract with set dates would be more expensive.

The ability to work around other projects is part of what keeps the price down, Gardner said.

“You get the same quality of street, but you can do it at a much cheaper cost because the contractor has a lot more flexibility on when he can start and stop the project,” Gardner said. “You give him a lot of flexibility, but in return he gives you a good price.”

The board of aldermen dedicated $500,000 to the overlay project, which came from the lease payments to the city generated by Magnolia Bluffs Casino, Fields said.

“We really want to be ready for the city’s Tricentenniel,” Fields said. “With the program we have in place, the streets are ranked by their condition, but it is not like we are skipping some to do others.”

The streets will likely be overlaid in clusters based on the list of streets provided to the contractor, Gardner said.

“They will probably pick a cluster of them all together so they can minimize how many times they have to load the equipment on trailers and take it to another part of the city,” he said.

Until things get started, however, Fields said he knows he will be hearing from his constituents.

“Now that we have announced that the streets are to be overlaid, people are definitely inquiring when the start will be,” he said.