LA 1 to receive CIAP money

The state Department of Transportation and Development is receiving $8.76 million in federal Coastal Impact Assistance Program money to help fund the Port Fourchon to Leeville stretch of the new Louisiana Highway 1, said LA 1 Coalition executive director Henri Boulet. The segment will tie into the approaches of the new Leeville bridge.

The program was authorized by Congress in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to compensate Louisiana and other Gulf Coast states for damage to the environment caused by drilling for oil offshore. Boulet said the state will receive $540 million from the program.

All of the new $140 million stretch of LA 1 from Fourchon to Leeville will be elevated 22 feet above sea level.

Boulet said the LA 1 Coalition assisted the Department of Transportation and Development with writing the application to obtain funding from the program for the new road.

“The elevated LA 1 will play a critical role in larger OCS (outer continental shelf) money coming into the state to address coastal restoration needs,” Boulet said. “If we want future money to come, we have to take care of our infrastructure.”