The Greater Lafourche Port Commission will conduct mitigation work for the LA 1 project that will create up to 90 acres of wetlands north and south of the highway project near Leeville. Commissioners voted in 2005 to pay for the required wetlands mitigation, a move that will reduce the cost of constructing a new fixed-level bridge at Leeville and an elevated highway to Port Fourchon by $6 million.

"I think it shows an innovative way to get projects done, especially on the coast," says LA 1 Project Engineer David Miller of the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development.

The mitigation is especially important to the south Lafourche parish community considering the high rate of coastal erosion in the area.

"It's going to be a great thing for Leeville," says Greater Lafourche Port Commission Director Ted Falgout.

The Port Commission has agreed to maintain the wetlands created on the north side of the new Leeville Bridge for 20 years and the wetlands south of the bridge for five years.

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Press contact:
Henri Boulet, LA 1 Coalition
985.448.4485