Hurricane museum funding in tact; Port of LC losing $11M for projects
Published 9:00 am Tuesday, April 26, 2016
<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">BATON ROUGE — The Port of Lake Charles lost over $11 million in funding for three of its projects when Gov. John Bel Edwards pared down spending in the state’s construction measure, but money for the National Hurricane Museum and Science Center is still in House Bill 2.</span>
<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Edwards said the projects he eliminated from the legislation had little hopes of being funded.</span>
<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">There are five priorities of funding, and most Priority 5 spending was deleted. Priority 1 funding was given the highest priority.</span>
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<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Members of the House Ways and Means Committee heard from a number of state and local agencies that have requested construction money for projects all across the state.</span>
<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">H.B. 2 will be amended throughout the legislative process and other projects and funding may be added or deleted.</span>
<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The port lost $7.2 million in Priority 5 funding for Leevac improvements planned at the Industrial Canal. The bill still contains $190,000 in Priority 1. Also removed was $2 million in the bill designated for relocation of railroad tracks along Sallier Street in Lake Charles. There is still $100,000 in Priority 1 funding.</span>
<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Another $2 million that was in H.B. 2 last year for turning lanes and crossing bars at the Farmers Rice Mill rail spur at La. 397 was removed. However, that work is under supervision of the state Department of Transportation and Development, which was to report on its H.B. 2 projects later in the day. The port access road project is also under supervision of DOTD.</span>
<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Bill Race, port director, gave an update Monday on four projects.</span>
<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Construction of the Farmers Rice Mill rail spur at La. 397 is progressing well and should be completed in August, Race said. That doesn’t include the turning lanes and crossing bars.</span>
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<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">The port’s new $7.2 million administration building should be completed in July, he said. It had a $1.5 million local match.</span>
<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Relocation of the Sallier Street railroad tracks is up in the air now that additional funding has been deleted from H.B. 2, Race said. The project has a $2.6 million local match.</span>
<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Dredging is needed at Berth 8 at the city docks, he said, and the port is waiting for a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The project had a $1 million local match.</span>
<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Jill Kidder of In-houseCreative in Baton Rouge is the National Hurricane Museum project coordinator. She updated the committee on the museum that is planned for the Lake Charles lakefront.</span>
<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">In H.B. 2, there is $1 million in Priority 1 funding for the museum and $26.5 million in Priority 5.</span>
<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Kidder said there is $15 million in local and corporate funding and commitments, and just under $15 million is needed to fund the $57 million project.</span>
<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Rep. Neil Abramson, committee chairman, asked about the project’s future after a local millage tax was defeated on April 9.</span>
<span class="R~sep~ACopyBody">Kidder said the museum board is meeting on May 12 to discuss future plans and more information would be available after that meeting.</span>
