Engineer fee OK’d for Lefort Bypass

The Lafourche Parish Council funneled needed funds into various capital drainage, culvert and bridge projects throughout the parish at last week’s meeting.

The council previously budgeted $987,871 for the Lefort Bypass project in the 2009 Operations and Maintenance Budget and the 2009 Capital Budget. However, another $50,000 is needed, said parish Department of Public Works Director Ronnie Robichaux.

The council approved the extra funds to cover the engineering and other service fees for the project.

There has been repetitive flooding in the East 51st and 52nd street areas. To prevent flooding, the parish wants to repair both of the roads. According to Finance Director Joel Doty, the project is estimated to cost a little over $30,000.

However, the project was not previously funded in the 2009 Operations and Maintenance Budget and the 2009 Capital Budget. Parish President Charlotte Randolph asked the council to approve taking $30,00 from Road Sales District 2 for the project.

The Department of Public Works received bids for the Larose Cut Off Drainage Project near West 25th Street. Randolph said the project was not previously budgeted either. The parish is asking the council to take $132,895 from Road Sales Tax District 2 to fund the project.

The parish has been awarded a grant from the Louisiana Depart-ment of Transportation and Development’s statewide Off-System Parish Bridge/Replace-ment Program to fix the Galliano Bridge.

The program gave $200,000 to be used specifically toward the construction costs of the project. Lafourche will use parish funds for the pre-construction costs and any costs that exceed the initial investment, according to the parish’s Finance Department.

Randolph told the council that the parish moved $476,120 from Road Sales District 2 to fund the rest of the project.

Councilman Matt Matherne said lights are needed in certain areas near schools and public buildings in Bayou Blue. He has asked the council to support a second request to the Louisiana DOTD to place the lights in the area.

Matherne believes the lights are needed at Bayou Blue Lower Elementary School, the Lafourche Parish Public Complex near Bayou Blue Middle School and Bayou Blue Public Library.

Lights are also needed near a daycare center in Bayou Blue, the area’s recreation building, the senior citizen complex, four baseball fields, the running track and the future location for the District 5 field office.

Matherne intends to have Louisiana DOTD place lights at all major intersections within one mile of any public building. He suggests combining the elementary school with traffic control lights at the intersection of Highway 182 and Highway 316.

The council has asked the administration to appoint someone to work with the Terrebonne Parish Consolidated Government to find a viable solution to the existing location for the St. Louis Canal Dam.

Among the possible options are removing the dam, modifying it or relocating it. Matherne is familiar with the St. Louis Dam issue. Therefore, he threw his hat in the ring as the appointed liaison. No one was officially appointed at the meeting.

“If you ask any state politician, they’ll tell you Reggie is not only the coastal guru for this region – he’s the coastal guru for the state,” Alford said. “He’s gotten us funding; he knows every waterway in this parish and all the governmental department heads. This was a no-brainer.”

Dupre said Curole would still have an important role to play in Terrebonne Parish since 10 miles of Morganza stretches into the South Lafourche Levee District.

“If the (Terrebonne) board needs me, I’ll be around,” Curole said. “I’m the helper guy.”

Dupre said his vision for the post is to coordinate, communicate and prioritize projects to make logistical sense for parish residents.

“The biggest balancing act myself and the board are going to do is to continue welcoming in the (U.S. Army) Corps of Engineers as our federal partner,” he said, “at the same time making them understand that we have to protect ourselves and start the first phases of hurricane protection.”

Besides Morganza, Dupre said another chief concern is marrying conservation with restoration as has been done at the state level and then incorporating mitigation.

Dupre said over the next few years he envisions the levee district as the implementing authority over large-scale restoration projects.

For his efforts to save coastal Louisiana, America’s WETLANDS will honor Dupre with a lifetime achievement award on May 30. He will be the third inductee following former U.S. Sen. John Breaux and former Department of Natural Resources Secretary Jack Caldwell.

“I’m very honored. I see that these bayou communities are literally dying before our eyes,” he said. “My main goal through my legislative career is the salvation of these coastal communities. We don’t have many years left before we totally lose our tax base and lose everything we’ve been working for.”