Eugenie "Ann" Wise Boulet
April 2, 2008Getting fit for the beach; good books to take along
April 4, 2008Contributing Writer
The long-awaited highway improvements between Golden Meadow and Port Fourchon received a boost recently when the Louisiana Legislature approved spending $2 million of the state surplus on the project.
According to Henri Boulet, head of the LA1 Coalition, the group spearheading the highway upgrade effort, the bulk of the state infusion will go toward acquiring the rights of way for the 8.3-mile segment between Golden Meadow and Leeville. Boulet noted that the acquisition of some of those rights could be complicated by conflicts with existing high-pressure gas and oil lines in the area.
“The state is in the process of determining exactly where the highway will run and that should be known by this fall,” he said. “At that point, we’ll know exactly how much land will be needed and in what precise area.”
Boulet acknowledged that several millions in additional funding may be needed to deepen or remove active pipelines that will likely be in the final design area. “We’ll know precise locations later in the year but it’s something we have to plan for now and the state money will help get us where we need to be on that issue,” he said.
As yet, no construction funding has been secured for that segment. Projections are currently running around $250 million to finish the work.
Meanwhile, work on the new overpass that will replace the existing Leeville lift span bridge is moving along ahead of schedule, Boulet said. Originally slated for completion in December 2009, the $161 million bridge and approaches are now scheduled for completion sometime in the summer of 2009.
“We would like to see the new Leeville overpass completed before the heart of hurricane season next year,” he said, noting that would mean residents below the bridge as well as Port Fourchon would only have to endure one more hurricane season using the tenuous lift span that currently crosses Bayou Lafourche.
Work is also progressing on the five-mile segment of elevated roadway from Port Fourchon north to Leeville.
Workers are constructing the elevated roadway that will begin at the intersection of Louisiana Highway 3090 (Fourchon Road) and tie into the approaches at the new overpass in Leeville. According to Boulet, the $141 million project has a completion date of sometime in 2011 and is currently on schedule to meet that timeline.
Once competed, the two-lane highway – between both Port Fourchon and Leeville and Leeville and Golden Meadow – will sit some 22 feet above sea level at finished grade. The lowest cross beams under the structure will be 17 feet above sea level.
Boulet said that these numbers were derived from the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) 100-year storm surge projection maps, which call for a 14-foot surge at Leeville should a 100-year storm strike. “Based on those numbers and accounting for wave action were how the heights were derived,” he said.
“This elevated roadway is not coming apart. Whereas pilings on similar elevated roadways are driven 40 feet into the ground, the majority of the ones for this highway are being driven 120 feet into the ground,” Boulet said, adding that several additional drain points are being placed on both segments to allow for the quick drainage of water in the unlikely event that the roadway is overtopped by storm surge.
