New Galliano airport bridge, 4-lane road sought

The Greater Lafourche Port Commission wants a new bridge constructed over Bayou Lafourche at Airport Road in Galliano and a road leading from the proposed bridge to the four-lane Louisiana Highway 3235, said Port Commission Executive Director Ted Falgout at a Chamber of Lafourche and the Bayou Region meeting last Wednesday held at the South Lafourche Leonard Miller Jr. Airport.

The Port Commission owns and operates the airport, located around 20 miles north of Port Fourchon, which is also operated by the commission.

No road currently runs from Louisiana Highway 1 opposite Airport Road at Bayou Lafourche to Hwy. 3235.

“We’d have access directly to the airport (from Hwy. 3235),” Falgout said.

The bridge is expected to cost $18 to $20 million.

Falgout said the Port Commission has submitted capital outlay requests to the state for the bridge and road project. He said the state and Lafourche Parish government are interested.

Government officials have been appraising property near the proposed bridge site, he said.

To reach Hwy. 3235 from the airport, drivers currently need to travel around four miles north near South Lafourche High School to reach a bridge over Bayou Lafourche and a road leading to Hwy. 3235.

Falgout made the announcement after he and airport manager Jason Duet promoted the airport to the Chamber audience.

“The seaport (Fourchon) and the airport have synergy,” Falgout said. “The seaport supports the airport. Airports do not make money for you but help you make money in other ways.”

The Port Commission bought the airport in 2002, which at the time had no fueling capability and was surrounded by a working farm. The commission purchased 1,200 acres of land around the airport.

“We bought a strip of asphalt in a cow pasture,” Falgout said,

“Before the port took over the airport, there was little development of the airport,” Duet said.

The Port Commission shortly added a fueling capability, constructed a hangar and installed an automated weather station before tackling a four-phase improvement plan, which was completed in May last year.

Phase One lengthened the runway from 3,800 feet to 5,000 feet, with the federal government paying half the cost.

However, the federal government did not fund the second phase, which called for extending the runway an extra 1,500 feet. The Port Commission paid for the more than $2 million cost of Phase Two using almost entirely its own revenue.

(Half the commission’s revenue is self-generated, mostly from fees paid by tenants. The commission receives seven percent of its revenue from property taxes paid by south Lafourche Parish residents living in a special taxing district.)

The airport was named Louisiana Outstanding Airport of the Year for 2006 by the Federal Aviation Administration, mainly because the Port Commission had expended its own money to build the extension, according to Falgout.

The third phase involved installing a new runway lighting system. Phase Four strengthened the runway with an overlay to allow the strip to handle aircraft weighing up to 75,000 pounds. The former capacity was 12,500 pounds. The federal government paid for most of the cost of the overlay.

Duet said the runway load capacity needs to increase to 138,000 pounds.

The airport will begin installing an instrument landing system later this year, he said.

The system provides precision guidance to aircraft approaching the runway.

The airport is also performing site preparation to build a taxiway for the runway and is widening the safety area of the runway on the sides and at the ends of the length of the strip.

The facility has two 10,000-gallon gasoline tanks operated by a contractor, which are vital to bringing in out-of-town aircraft, Duet said. Almost two-thirds of the planes using the airport are local aircraft.

Falgout said Edison Chouest will complete building a hangar at the airport by the end of this year.