Lawmakers: St. Mary projects will move ahead

Despite the state budget issues the Legislature had to tackle during the session, local legislators say they’ve ensured that funding for key St. Mary Parish infrastructure projects will move ahead.
The St. Mary Chamber of Commerce hosted its 2015 Legislative Session End Report luncheon Wednesday at the Petroleum Club of Morgan City with state Rep. Joe Harrison, R-Gray, Rep. Sam Jones, D-Franklin, and Sen. Bret Allain, R-Franklin.
All three legislators said they worked well together to do what was best for the areas they represent even in the midst of their philosophical differences.
“We took care of our business,” Jones said of the session.
“There was a new emphasis this year on roads and infrastructure,” Allain said.
Legislators refused to raid the transportation trust fund anymore to be used for other purposes, Allain said.
The state currently has a $12 billion backlog of repairs to state highways and roads, not including I-49 South or any other expansion projects, Allain said.
Jones said officials signed a contract to construct an overpass on La. 318 on the far west end of St. Mary Parish for $53 million as part of the I-49 work. Construction could start early in 2016, Jones said.
Jones said he hopes that section of the work will be complete in 2017 so that motorists have an easy trip from the Wax Lake Outlet to Lafayette with frontage roads and “no crossovers,” Jones said.
State officials have been able to reduce the cost of the next piece of the I-49 project, from the Wax Lake Outlet to the Atchafalaya River in Morgan City, from about $375 million to roughly $250 million, Jones said.
Jones and other area legislators continued to make sure the Port of Morgan City’s Government Emergency and Operations Center is fully funded, he said. The center is being funded in part by $7.1 million in state capital outlay money.
Additionally, legislators worked to provide the infrastructure needed at Cameron Ironworks in Berwick to support the company’s growth in the town, Jones said.
Funding for improvements to Berwick’s sewer are “huge” to increase the number of businesses who can come to the area, Allain said.
Legislators secured $1.6 million in state capital outlay money to begin building a welding school near the Port of West St. Mary, which will greatly help two boat companies in that area get trained workers, Jones said.
Harrison passed legislation for St. Mary Parish, which will provide autonomy for each municipality in the parish to use the state’s south central planning and development district as it chooses while allowing for economic growth, Harrison said.
The legislation, House Bill 656 moved St. Mary Parish into a new state planning and development district. The district also includes Assumption, Lafourche, St. Charles, St. James, St. John the Baptist and Terrebonne parishes.
The planning and development district offers “a wealth of what we need in our parishes” for planning and design of new developments, Harrison said.
Legislators were able to get funds for planning and construction of new meter systems in Patterson and additional funding for Franklin Foundation Hospital, Allain said.
The “Hugh and Byrnes Young” Marine and Petroleum Safety Training Center is still on track to be constructed at South Central Louisiana Technical College’s Young Memorial Campus in Morgan City, Jones said.
City officials did a great job to getting the H&B Young Foundation to donate land on Youngs Road to build the school, which gave the college the 12 percent matching local funds needed, Jones said.
Those local matching funds allowed the marine training facility to move from the bottom tier of state projects scheduled for construction to the top, Jones said.
“We’ve gone from not being in the bill to being way up high,” Jones said.
The Legislature also restored planned cuts to the state’s libraries, museums, parks and all state agencies, Allain said.
Speaking about coastal protection and restoration, Harrison said officials are dredging a canal right now thanks to a $5 million grant and are hoping to put a pump station on the Lake Verret side of the bayou and pump water into Bayou Lafourche, Harrison said.
That plan is the one most economically effective things officials can do to help for coastal protection until they can get a permanent structure installed at Bayou Chene, Harrison said. The project Harrison described will cost less than $18 million. The Bayou Chene Flood Control and Diversion Project is estimated to cost $80 million and includes a permanent structure that will block Bayou Chene so that flood waters cannot travel from Bayou Chene through Bayou Boeuf to Lake Palourde.
St. Mary Levee District Executive Director Tim Matte said the Bayou Lafourche project involves pumping freshwater into Bayou Lafourche to improve the water quality there. Officials also have long-term plans to deepen Bayou Lafourche to further improve the water quality, Matte said.