T. Baker Smith to develop Lafourche Drainage Master Plan

T. Baker Smith will lead a team to research and survey the Lafourche Parish drainage system as part of an 18-month Drainage Master Plan project, which will be presented as complete to the public at a March 2012 council meeting.

The parish will use a $750,000 Community Development Block Grant and $130,600 from the North Lafourche Levee District to fully finance the project, which will be managed by Jimmy Ledet of T. Baker Smith.

“Being a lifelong resident of Lafourche, I know this is a great step forward for Lafourche to do a project like this,” Ledet said. “It gets me excited because I’ve lived here and worked here all my life. I know it’s a great step forward for the parish.”

T. Baker Smith will manage the venture, and the North Lafourche Levee District, FTN Associates, John Wayne Plaisance and Phylway Construction will join them.

Ledet presented the plan in front of the Lafourche Parish Council last Tuesday, and said the project team will leave no stone unturned as far as researching and incorporating new ideas.

The team will gather information from 19 public agencies, councilmen, area consultants and field office supervisors before surveying 150 miles of forced drainage systems, 67 miles of gravity canals and bayous and 78 bridges and culvert crossings.

The public is encouraged to visit www.lafourchedrainagestudy.com or call (985) 493-2964 to submit comments.

The results will complement Ordinance 4698, which requires the developer of a public subdivision that provides infrastructure to conduct an engineering study on subdivision’s impact on the parish’s drainage system.

“It’s going to be a tool for the future, to help planning of the parish,” said Paula Schouest, corporate marketing director with T. Baker Smith. “It will help them better define their ordinance so when somebody comes in to develop in the parish, they’ll have a better idea of what kind of drainage they need to account for.”