BELLE ROSE, LA (AP) — Dredging is underway on a $16 million project that will ultimately increase Mississippi River water flow into Bayou Lafourche.
The Courier’s Jacob Batte reports the second dredging phase of the massive Mississippi River Reintroduction to Bayou Lafourche project involves removing vegetation and dredging sediment and mud flats for 8.3 miles between Belle Rose and Napoleonville. Nearly 800,000 cubic yards of mud will be dredged.
The Mississippi River Reintroduction to Bayou Lafourche project also includes bridge modifications, new water-control structures, replacement of the Union Pacific Railroad Bridge and the removal of the weir, or small dam, in Thibodaux.
When completed, Freshwater District Executive Director Ben Malbrough says the freshwater flow should increase from 330 cubic feet per second to more than 1,000.
