An LSU student-designed initiative to spruce up the interchange at Interstate 10 and Dalrymple Drive is still slated for completion despite the non-renewal of a contract with Baton Rouge Green to oversee the work, says Greg Bivin, a landscape architect with the city-parish Department of Public Works. “The mayor is still excited about the project, and we still have the original $50,000 to do the project with,” Bivin says. “Hopefully, we’ll have it completed by the fall, but we’re still trying to secure some additional funding.”
Mayor Kip Holden announced the project in September, along with another on South Acadian Thruway that was designed by Southern University students and completed about four months ago. The nonprofit Baton Rouge Green had been overseeing the projects as part of a three-year contract with the city-parish to consult on beautification aspects of Green Light Plan road improvements throughout the parish. The contract, which Baton Rouge Green Executive Director Diane Losavio says was worth about $97,000 a year, expired in early March. DPW has since taken over beautification efforts regarding Green Light Plan projects, Bivin says.
The LSU students’ design is still being used for the I-10/Dalrymple Drive project and is being finalized by engineers, Bivin says. The design calls for “rain gardens” to retain and filter storm water, as well as vegetation capable of withstanding occasional rain inundation. He says the project will cost less than $100,000 total. —Steve Sanoski
