About $255 million in Army Corps of Engineers funds will improve five East Baton Rouge Parish waterways as part of what local officials are calling a “regional effort” for flood control.
Those projects—part of the $1.4 billion federal package that is also funding the long-awaited Comite River Diversion Canal—include:
- Widening and deepening the Bayou Fountain channel
- Clearing and snagging Ward Creek
- Widening, clearing and snagging Jones Creek
- Enlarging Beaver Bayou in Central
- Enlarging Blackwater Bayou, also in Central
Still to be determined is when each project will begin and end, says Rowdy Gaudet, assistant chief administrative officer for the city-parish, though local officials hope to have a definitive answer by the end of July.
Gaudet says the projects are part of a larger Comprehensive Parish Stormwater Master Plan, which aims to address drainage issues and prevent widespread flooding in the Capital Region. He says the city-parish is regularly communicating with surrounding parishes—particularly Livingston, Ascension and Iberville Parishes—about each project’s potential effects.
“It makes no sense for East Baton Rouge to push water on another parish without dealing comprehensively with them,” Gaudet says.
Though the waterway improvements have been in the works for years, their importance was emphasized after the August 2016 flood, says Gaudet, who previously served as chief of staff for the Louisiana Office of Community Development Disaster Recovery Unit.
GOHSEP spokesman Mike Steele, who says the federal dollars will bypass the state and go directly to the city-parish, says his office will assist with the projects once the city-parish has broken ground on them.
While Gaudet says there is a local match component, he could not confirm whether locals would be required to pay back 35% over a 30-year period, as U.S. Rep. Garret Graves said Thursday. In previous conversations with the Corps of Engineers, Gaudet says he had heard a 25% local match was required, but was unsure of any new developments.
Either way, he says the 30-year payoff period will not begin until after each project has been completed.
“Whatever the details turn out to be, we’re going to make it work,” he says.
