Twenty-six Green Light Plan road projects have been let for bid through this year, which is ahead of the original schedule of 23 projects, say Michael Songy of CSRS, which is directing the plan for the city-parish. Officials gave an update on the parish’s street improvement program and the ongoing sewer upgrades today at a luncheon sponsored by the Baton Rouge Growth Coalition. Seventeen Green Light projects are complete, Mayor Kip Holden says, and more than 90 local firms have worked on projects. Those projects have been paid for with two bond issues backed by a half-cent sales tax; however, the pace will slow to a little more than one new project a year now that the bond revenue has been spent and the program switches to “pay as you go.” About $460 million has been spent or committed. Songy says the plan is about $91 million under budget, thanks to cheaper construction costs since 2008, using a boulevard design rather than five lanes with extended gutters, right-of-way donations, and cooperative developers who have agreed not to build in the corridors of upcoming road projects.
About 90% of projects in the city-parish’s federally mandated $1.3 billion sewer improvements are either complete, designed or under construction, says Michael Ellis of CH2M HILL. The projects, funded by a half-cent sales tax and sewer user fees, are slated to be finished by 2014. All pump stations will have emergency generators, which was not required by the federal government but requested by Holden. More than 300 firms are working on projects, including 180 with offices in Baton Rouge, Ellis says. —David Jacobs
