Stimulus funds backed for roads

• By SCOTT DYER
• Advocate staff writer
• Published: Mar 25, 2009 - Page: 1B

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A Metropolitan Planning Organization advisory panel signed off Tuesday on a proposal to spend $86 million in federal economic stimulus money on Baton Rouge area roads, with $72 million to widen Interstate 10 from Siegen Lane to Highland Road.

Construction crews are already working on a previously bid $86 million project to six-lane I-10 from the I-12 split to Siegen Lane.

In addition, federal officials have set aside $13.8 million in stimulus money to help fund three other local projects: the Central Thruway, improvements to the intersection of Cornerview Street and La. 44 in Gonzales, and ramps for a future I-10 intersection in West Baton Rouge Parish between La. 415 and the Mississippi River Bridge.

Huey Dugas of the Capital Region Planning Commission said the actual cost of those three projects totals $14.8 million, but only $13.8 million in stimulus money is available. Dugas said local officials will be asked to scale back their requests for each of the three projects proportionately.

But there’s a question about whether the proposed new I-10 interchange in West Baton Rouge Parish is far enough along to qualify for the $4 million in requested stimulus money.

Dan Broussard, a planning engineer for the state Department of Transportation and Development, said opening a new point of access onto an interstate highway is an extremely elaborate and time-consuming process.

To qualify for the stimulus money, bids on qualifying projects have to be let by February, Broussard said.

“It could be tough to make that schedule,” Broussard said.

MPO staffers agreed to look into the proposed new I-10 exit to determine if it can make the deadline.

Dugas said the new interchange is needed by trucks to access I-10 from the industrial park in Port Allen. If that project is not eligible for stimulus money, the funds possibly could be switched to another project, Dugas said.

Bryan Harmon, chief engineer for East Baton Rouge city-parish government, said the Central Thruway was selected for $10.3 million in federal stimulus funds because it meets federal standards and is shovel-ready.

In all, the proposed Thruway linking Central City to Florida Boulevard is expected to cost from $60 million to $80 million.

Also in line to receive federal stimulus money is the city of Gonzales in Ascension Parish, where some $500,000 is earmarked to add turn lanes and make other improvements to the intersection of Cornerview Road and La. 44.