BATON ROUGE, La. - The state of Louisiana has approved more than $16 million for six drainage projects in unincorporated Jefferson Parish and one drainage project in the Town of Grand Isle, allowing parish officials to access federal Community Development Block Grant funds needed to implement the projects.
The approved projects for drainage improvements are as follows:
$3,412,693 for Oakwood Canal/Terrytown;
$3,412,693 for Maplewood Drive;
$2,220,000 for East and West Livingston Place;
$2,000,000 for Bunche Village Neighborhood;
$1,628,400 for Hillings Ditch/Sauve Road;
$1,380,431 for Lancaster Drive; and
$2,445,335 for the Town of Grand Isle, as well as road improvements.
The approvals follow closely on the heels of the state's previous approvals of four similar projects in Jefferson Parish amounting to more than $12 million, bringing the total in CDBG funding to more than $28 million. The previous approvals are: St. Peter's Ditch in Metairie; Gulizo Canal in Marrero; California Avenue in Metairie; and Phase 1 & 2 drainage in the Town of Jean Lafitte.
The funding comes from the Long Term Community Recovery Program, a $700 million pool of federal disaster-recovery money set aside by the Louisiana Recovery Authority and Office of Community Development to help local governments rebuild and implement long-term recovery plans.
LRA Executive Director Paul Rainwater said, "If Louisiana is to rebuild safer, stronger and smarter, we must combine our recovery efforts with mitigation measures like these drainage projects in Jefferson Parish that will better protect our residents from hurricane weather and everyday rainstorms in the future."
Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard said, "This CDBG disaster recovery funding will help implement our parish plan to provide 100-year hurricane protection by completing vital drainage projects that will help mitigate flood events for our citizens, their children and grandchildren."
During Hurricane Katrina, the localities listed below flooded as a result of inadequate drainage systems. Using CDBG funds to improve these systems will increase the parish's capacity to move storm water. If these improvements had been in place before Katrina, it is likely the flooding would have been reduced, storm water runoff would have drained more quickly and residents could have returned home sooner.
• At Oakwood Canal/Terrytown - More than $3.4 million will be used to design and construct subsurface drainage with the installation of pipes, drop inlets, street cuts, driveway replacements, utility adjustments and street repairs along Dearfield Road, Emerson Street, N. Marlins Court, Daniels Road and Oakwood Drive, in addition to the installation of a new culvert along Carol Sue Avenue between Oakwood Drive and Outfall Canal.
• At Maplewood Drive - More than $3.4 million will be used to design and construct a subsurface drainage line that requires pipe and drop inlet installation and street resurfacing on Maplewood, Redwood, Dogwood Pailet, Estalote, Esther, Shirley and Marian streets, as well as Third, Sixth, Seventh, Ninth, 41st and 38th streets.
• At East and West Livingston Place - More than $2.2 million will be used to construct a new subsurface drainage system via the installation of approximately 2,300 linear feet of drainage pipe with drop inlets, in addition to street resurfacing and restoration of East and West Livingston Place between Metairie Road on the north and Loumar Avenue on the south.
• At Bunch Village Neighborhood - $2 million will be used to install subsurface street drainage improvements by replacing substandard pipes with appropriately sized pipes, catch basins and street resurfacing to segments of the Gautreaux Ditch along Mistletoe Street, Little Farms Avenue and Ivy Street.
• At Hillings Ditch/Sauve Road - More than $1.6 million will be used to install a five-cubic-feet-per-second pump station in the existing Hillings Ditch right-of-way at the intersection of Diane Avenue and Dart Street. In addition, a 14-inch force main will be installed under the roadway along Phyllis Court and routed to existing drainage on Sauve Road just north of Paula Drive.
• At Lancaster Drive - More than $1.3 million will be used to install a subsurface drainage line that will increase the conveyance of stormwater runoff from Grand Cross Canal #1 to the Westminster Pumping Station. The construction will consist of a approximately 1,420 feet of line and the replacement of rollover curbs, gutters, driveway aprons and half of the concrete street on Wedmore Drive. This will drain one-third of the system's stormwater to Grand Cross Canal #2.
• In the Town of Grand Isle - More than $2.4 million will be used to reconstruct Louisiana Avenue and Admiral Craik Drive, which were damaged when Katrina made landfall approximately 20 miles east of the island, thus washing away large chunks of these roads. These streets provide access to a marina, a state park, local industry and a U.S. Coast Guard Station. The existing asphalt will be removed and a sand and limestone base will be constructed according to new roadway design. In addition, drainage improvements such as the installation of culverts and base elevation will be implemented.
The state's LTCR program supports implementation of local governments' long-term recovery plans in the most heavily impacted communities in the state. In 2008, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development approved LRA's request to reallocate $500 million in CDBG dollars to the program, bringing to $700 million the total amount of long-term recovery funding available to the parishes. Funds are distributed among the parishes through the LRA/OCD according to a formula based on estimated housing and infrastructure damages inflicted by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
In total, the LRA has allocated $50,120,337 of CDBG funding to Jefferson Parish for LTCR projects.
