The signing signals the formal approval and acceptance of the Environmental Impact Statement for an important improvement to LA 1 that calls for the construction of approximately 16 mi. of four-laned, elevated highway from Golden Meadow to Port Fourchon with a fixed high-level bridge at Bayou Lafourche in Leeville.

The approximately $520 million project will maintain a critical link to the south Louisiana port, which plays a large role in the transportation of both foreign and domestic oil supplies.

LA 1, a two-lane highway that has experienced a 24 percent increase in truck traffic since January 2002, is the only road connecting the port to the rest of the nation. In 2001, Congress named LA 1 to the federal list of High Priority Corridors because of its importance to the national energy supply.

"This approval represents more than just providing easier access to a busy port," said DOTD Secretary Kam Movassaghi. "It represents an assured access to our nation's vital energy supply."

Applicant seeks major airport in Louisiana wetlands

The U. S. Army Corps of Engineers has begun to consider a wetlands application to build a privately owned international airport that would involve 8,153 acres just west of New Orleans.

The applicant, St. Charles International Airport LLC of Houston, is proposing a project in east St. Charles Parish. Its boundaries would be Louis Armstrong International Airport to the east and the Bonnet Carre Spillway to the west. The boundary on the south would be Airline Drive (US 61) and to the north, Lake Pontchartrain.

The main airport facilities would be built in the wetlands immediately south of Interstate 10 and straddling Interstate 310.

The project involves 4,253 acres of swamp, marsh and emergent wetlands, and 3,900 acres of open water. Features include five runways, 1.5 mi. to 2.5 mi. long; a taxiway over I-310; an overpass to link I-10 with airport facilities; a passenger terminal; 11 mi. of flood protection levee; 6 mi. of hurricane protection levee on the Lake Pontchartrain lakefront; and grade reduction for the Canadian National - Illinois Central railroad.

About 24 million cu. yds. of organic material would be dredged out of the project area, and about 59 cu. yds. would be dredged from the Mississippi River, Bonnet Carre Spillway and commercial sources and deposited as fill.

The airport's taxiway system would tie in with Louis Armstrong International.