Seven segments under way; two others finished: Louisiana transportation officials say seven segments of the Interstate 49 North extension project between Shreveport and the Arkansas state line are under construction and two other new segments are finished. The project is designed to connect Louisiana ports to a roadway that eventually will stretch to Canada. The project has 11 segments. The total estimate of stretching I-49 from the Interstate 220 loop in Shreveport to Arkansas is $622 million. So far, $460 million in state and federal funds have been committed. Louisiana transportation secretary Sherri LeBas told The (Shreveport) Times that the two segments closest to Arkansas are completed. She says construction of two other segments will begin over the next few months.
Still declining: Home prices in a majority of major U.S. cities tracked by a private trade group have fallen to their lowest levels since the housing bubble burst. The Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller index fell in December from November in all but one of the 20 cities it tracks. The 20-city index declined 1%. The only market to see a gain was Washington, D.C. Eleven of the markets hit their lowest point since the housing bust in 2006 and 2007: Atlanta, Charlotte, N.C., Chicago, Detroit, Las Vegas, Miami, New York, Phoenix, Portland, Ore., Seattle, and Tampa, Fla. The damage from the real estate bubble now spreads well beyond the Sun Belt, where new homes cropped up at a frantic pace during the mid-2000s. In many places, prices are expected to keep falling for at least the next six months.
