VIDALIA &8212; With the bid for the first phase of the parish&8217;s priority road improvement project coming in lower than expected, the police jury has added nearly two miles of road to the 2006 work.

In addition to the 23 roads that were bid out for resurfacing, a 2.2-mile stretch of Indian Village Road and four-tenths of a mile of Westside Drive &8212; for a total of eight-tenths of a mile overall &8212; will be included on the first round of work.

Also, one-tenth of a mile of Jimmy New Road was substituted for J. H. Hamilton Road, the latter of which is a private.

The extra roads bring the total length of the first phase to just under 21 miles.

Police jury President Melvin Ferrington said the contract had been sent to the contractor&8217;s attorney, who must sign off on it before work can begin.

This involves more than just signing papers, W.E. Blain and Sons Area Manager Mark Godfrey said.

&8220;The bonding company has to issue a bond and then the insurance company has to issue the insurance, then we have to send it back to their lawyer,&8221; Godfrey said. &8220;This is normal procedure so it can be legal.&8221;

Once the papers are all signed, a notice to proceed will be issued, from whence Blain has 10 days to commence.

After that, it has 140 work days &8212; not including weekends and rain days &8212; to finish the job, which makes weather a factor. The roads included in the first phase are mostly gravel roads; paved roads will be included in the 2007 list.

With the promotion of the roads, it is possible that the Phase II list will be expanded next year, should there be enough money.

And judging from the projected surplus that allowed them to add roads this time, the low bid from W. E. Blain and Sons was nearly $1.2 million less than the jury had budgeted for the phase, more will make the list.

No candidates for addition to the project were available.

&8220;(But) we&8217;re going to use every penny of the money,&8221; Ferrington said.

Godfrey said Blain, which is based in Mount Olive, but has an office in Natchez, was glad for the chance to work locally.

&8220;Hopefully we can do a quality job in the amount of time they want it,&8221; he said.