THIBODAUX, La. (AP) - An online auction held in February sold more than $900,000 in bonds to pay for projects in Lafourche Parish.
State Treasurer John Kennedy told The Daily Comet (https://bit.ly/1hivlVv ) the auction, which was held at a special meeting of the State Bond Commission, sold $910,700 in general obligation bonds.
Of the money, $362,300 will go toward the South Louisiana Economic Council’s Center for Economic Growth and Technology, $250,000 toward the new Tiger Drive Bridge in Thibodaux, $232,500 for the widening of North Canal Boulevard in Thibodaux and $65,900 for the Company Canal Pump Station near Lockport.
Construction on the Tiger Drive Bridge started Sept. 3 and is expected to be complete this summer. The cost is about $2 million and is being mostly paid for through a state Transportation and Development Department bridge maintenance program. The city is responsible for $398,712 in matching money.
Construction of the new bridge resumed in late February following the delivery of pilings.
The widening of North Canal is expected to cost $4.4 million with money coming from the state and the city.
Currently northbound Canal Boulevard goes through a lane transformation.
The more than $3 million Company Canal Pump Station on the eastern side of Bayou Lafourche - designed to relieve the nearby Valentine Pump Station - is operational after Phase 1 of construction began early last summer and was completed last week. Phase 2, which will add two pumps and provide drainage improvements, is expected to start this month.
The projects were financed as part of a statewide sale in which an online auction pitted investors from across the globe against each other, generating $496.4 million for infrastructure needs.
The sale, which Kennedy said garnered the most “cost-effective interest rates possible,” resulted in money for an additional 605 projects throughout Louisiana.
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Information from: Daily Comet, https://www.dailycomet.com
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