Jackson Free Press

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — President Barack Obama on Tuesday signed a bill that includes authorization for $693.3 million for the Mississippi Coastal Improvement Program in Hancock, Harrison and Jackson counties.

The Mississippi Coastal Improvements Program was initiated after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the first phase was completed in 2012. Work has included restoration of the barrier islands in the Mississippi Sound. All the projects in the plan are to reduce storm damage, prevent saltwater intrusion, preserve fish and wildlife and prevent erosion, harbor maintenance and others.

The $12.3 billion Water Resources Reform and Development Act finances 10 years' worth of infrastructure projects to aid U.S. ports and waterways, including the Port of Vicksburg and other inland ports where dredging in low tides typically take place after larger ports along main stems of rivers like the Mississippi.

The bill also provides that the Lower Mississippi River Museum and Riverfront Interpretive Site in Vicksburg will bear the name of towboat industry pioneer Jesse Brent. Brent founded Greenville Towing Company in 1956. He served as its chairman until his death in 1982.

Brent was also a founder and board chairman of the American Waterways Operators and was on the board of the National Waterways Conference.

The $23 million museum opened in Vicksburg in August 2012. It features a main hall with educational exhibits about the river and offers tours of the retired towboat MV Mississippi IV.

The bill also provides that the lock and dam at Aberdeen on the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway will be named for longtime waterway administrator Don Waldon.

Waldon, a Columbus native, served as deputy administrator from 1975 until he was appointed administrator of the Tenn-Tom Development Authority on July 1, 1984. He retired in 2005.

The waterway is the largest water resource project ever built in the U.S. The waterway has 10 locks and dams, a 175-foot deep canal connecting the Tennessee River with the Tombigbee River watershed and 234 miles of navigation channels between the Tennessee River and Mobile, Alabama.