La 1 construction planned to protect wetlands

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

The state is paying extra to protect Louisiana’s fragile wetlands when low-lying Louisiana Highway 1 is raised to avert the chance that a hurricane washout could cripple oil imports.

Barge-mounted cranes and such are forbidden. Rather, all equipment must be mounted on temporary trestles attached to the end of the most recently completed section.

That avoids having to dredge new canals to bring in cranes, said David Miller, who was the state Department of Transportation and Development project manager for the highway until he was promoted about four months ago.

Canals destroy marsh and open the way to further erosion. “When you do a project with end-on construction, you kind of tiptoe your way through, only driving temporary pilings,” Miller said. “The footprint is substantially less.

“But it does cost more. That was an environmental commitment the department made early on … to move the project forward.”

He said he can remember only a handful of projects, including some small bridges, which have used the method.

The last one, on Interstate 310 between LaPlace and New Orleans, was built by T.L. James & Co. After merging with part of Angelo Iafrate Construction, it become James Construction Group, which won the latest contract to build a 5.3-mile stretch of Highway 1 near Leeville about 22 feet off the ground.

Less than $1 million separated James Construction Group’s’s $137.5 million bid from the losing bid.

The losing bid, a joint venture between Traylor Bros. Inc. of Evansville, Ind., and Massman Construction Co. of Kansas City. was just under $138.3 million.

The difference was less than $808,000 n or six-tenths of one percent of that bid.

DOTD spokeswoman Sherry Dupre said Thursday that the department does not keep records of the differences between bids, but a longtime employee told her that such small differences are infrequent but not rare.

The narrow two-lane highway is the state’s only route directly leading to the Louisiana Offshore Oil Port, which serves as the delivery point for about 14 percent of the nation’s foreign oil.

“Few people understand the significance of this corridor in the ability to access the Gulf of Mexico by a vehicle,” said Ted Falgout, director of Port Fourchon. “It doesn’t exist anywhere else.”

The project is scheduled to begin this summer and expected to be completed in 2011, officials said.