NATCHEZ — For the second time in a year, the City of Natchez has asked the Army Corps of Engineers for help to reconnect Silver Street to Roth Hill Road along the riverfront.

Mayor Butch Brown made the request to the Mississippi River Commission while aboard the Motor Vessel Mississippi during the commission’s annual high-water inspection trip on the river. The mayor boarded the vessel in Greenville Wednesday to make the request at the commission’s public meeting.

Brown and City Engineer David Gardner made the same request while aboard the vessel when it docked at Natchez in April 2013.

The project would involve restoring approximately 300 feet of city-owned Water Street and completing a bank stabilization project that the Corps started in 1996.

The Corps was able to replace 11 of the 22 acres Under-the-Hill that washed away following the rerouting of the Mississippi River that occurred after the Giles cut was made in 1933.

The Giles cut shortened the course of the river by 14 miles but also caused a stronger, more forceful flow of water at the Natchez riverfront.

“Our historical records show a rapid deterioration of the riverbank and adjacent land, including Water Street, after the 1933 Giles cut,” Gardner said.

The project would also stabilize the boat ramp on the riverfront, Brown said, which he said would have a direct impact on economic development since Natchez is a stop on riverboat cruises.

Brown said the commissioners seemed open to helping the city and is hopeful the city receives a commitment from the Corps.

Brown said he would also like to enlist the Corps’ help in installing two additional boat ramps, one of which would be at the parking lot to the left of Roth Hill Road and another farther south of that location.

Brown said he expects more riverboats will be visiting Natchez next year, and said the ramps will help accommodate them.

The area the city would like restored was part of the original project the Corps did in 1996, but was not completed.

The cost of the project now, Gardner and Brown said, is unknown.

The task would involve putting more riprap on each side of the boat ramp, which Gardner said already has noticeable cracks in it.

“There’s not any threat of it collapsing, but it would help stabilize it if you put rock on both sides of it,” he said.

The project would also provide access for emergency vehicles along Water Street, Gardner said, which could eventually be paved if the bank is stabilized.

“So it would give us emergency access down there, it also just stabilizes the riverfront, and it would give us a lot better protection around the boat ramp,” Gardner said. “It would basically be recreating what was once there but was lost from the river taking it.”