Construction on the first phase of the project to dredge and beautify the University Lakes will begin this month after the project received final approval, according to a news release.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers issued a permit approving the work on Friday, and construction on Phase 1 work will begin in mid- to late June once the permit receives final signature, according to the release.
The first phase of the work will focus on flood-fighting efforts by dredging City Park and Erie Lakes. The sediment pulled from the lake bottoms will be used to expand the LSU Bird Sanctuary on Lakeshore Drive, according to the news release.
The work will take about a year and be executed through a $17 million contact with Sevenson Environmental Services Inc., according to the news release.
The first weeks of the work will be dedicated to creating construction staging areas and preparing to pump the dredged material to the Bird Sanctuary. But by the end of July, the actual dredging of City Park Lake will begin and is expected to take about four months.
The contractors will then move to Erie Lake and perform dredging that will take another three months, according to the news release.
Improvements to May Street — a new bridge, road realignment, bike paths, seeding, lighting — have also been planned for Phase 1 construction but are still under design. Interim landscape improvements and construction costs are estimated to bring the total Phase 1 cost to $32 million.
The project has more than $41 million in available funding for Phase 1 as of February 2023, with $5 million each from East Baton Rouge City-Parish, BREC and LADOTD.
Another $26 million in funds will be provided from the state, $16 million through capital outlay funds and $10 million from the Office of Community Development.