The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development recently bought some 5 acres between Baker and Zachary, near the Baton Rouge Canal, for the Comite River Diversion project, according to sales documents.
The department acquired the property, off Carney Road, from John and Teresa Cop for $1.18 million in a deal that closed last week.
It’s been a year since DOTD broke ground on the project, a 12-mile diversion channel stretching from the Comite River west to the Mississippi River. The project was delayed for several years until, in 2018, Louisiana finally secured the federal funds to complete the $340 million project.
Shortly after the groundbreaking last year, however, the project hit another roadblock. Because a portion of the canal would cross under a railway owned by the Kansas City Southern rail company, DOTD would have to construct a bridge, causing a six-month delay on a key area of the canal, according to WAFB-TV.
While DOTD is working on executing some of the last contracts for work on the project, the Army Corps of Engineers last month announced that construction for the highly anticipated project is expected to wrap up by the end of 2021.
