PORT FOURCHON, LA (AP) — Construction is expected to start next summer on the next phase of the elevated Louisiana Highway 1 leading to Port Fourchon.
The roughly 3,400-foot stretch of road will connect the four-lane Louisiana Highway 3235 in Golden Meadow and stretch southward over the south Lafourche levees.
Louisiana 1 Coalition Director Henri Boulet tells The Courier’s Meredith Burns if everything goes well, the job will go out to bid in February.
"By the time the state gives the contractor who wins the bid mobilization time and time to get their bonding contracts in place, I think you won't see cranes here until about the summer of 2016," Boulet said.
The section of road will clear the levee system by 22 feet to allow for future levee lifts, and a cement wall built into the levee will help support the road.
Construction for the phase is set to cost about $46.6 million.
About $6.6 million, or 14 percent, will come from private industry donors, and the state will pay the rest through annual construction money, Boulet said.
While construction on Phase 2C continues for about two years, the coalition and state will search for money to complete the project's final two segments.
The last portions of the project, which will connect the soon-to-built Phase 2C to the completed section in Leeville, are expected to cost about $274 million.
The competition for that kind of construction money is fierce, Boulet said.
Boulet said a project in a rural area needs strong backing by the delegation of lawmakers, which is smaller than caucuses from more populated areas, to explain why La. 1 is as important as projects in more urban areas.
