Special to
L’Observateur

BATON ROUGE — The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development recently received $41.4 million in additional federal highway funding due to successfully obligating the full amount of its federal funding during the 2013-2014 federal fiscal year.

Each year, the United States Department of Transportation redistributes federal funding to states that are successful in obligating their full federal highway funding allotment during the fiscal year, which spans from Oct. 1 through Sept. 30.

DOTD has obligated all of its federal funding 14 years in a row.

“The staff at DOTD works hard each year to obligate our entire allotment of federal funding,” DOTD Secretary Sherri H. LeBas said. “I am proud of their hard work and dedication with helping the department obtain this extra funding for these much-needed projects.”

This additional funding will allow the department to finance various shovel-ready construction projects over the next year. The projects include:

• An estimated $5 million to $7.5 million project to patch the bridge deck on the elevated portion of I-10 in St. Charles and St. John the Baptist parishes, and I-610 in Orleans Parish.

• An estimated $1 million to $2.5 million project to improve lighting, construct left turn lanes and traffic signal upgrades at the intersection of La. 44 and La. 934 in Ascension Parish.