The first open house on the Enterprise Boulevard Extension project was held at the Martin Luther King Junior Center on Tuesday.

The open houses are being hosted to keep residents informed on the project’s progress. They were able to look at maps and renderings of the project and speak with engineers and project managers about project details.

The Enterprise Blvd. Extension project was announced with a slate of several other infrastructure, quality-of-life and community projects included in LC Rebound — a bond proposal passed in November 2023.

During a series of community meetings on LC Rebound hosted in 2023, Mayor Nic Hunter said that this would be one of the first LC Rebound projects to get off the ground, with the goals of strengthening the connection between north and south Lake Charles and supporting economic development.

The Enterprise Blvd. Extension project is the next piece of a puzzle that began almost 20 years ago. The first phase of the project – including subsurface drainage, sewer, water improvements and new sidewalks from Fournet and Katherine Sts. – was completed in 2013.

Similarly to LC Rebound, the first phase was funded with money from $90 million in capital improvement bonds approved by voters in 2006. The cost of phase one was $13 million.

The projected cost of this project is $26 million.

Josh Fontenot, senior project manager, Waggoner Engineering, said the extension will connect Enterprise and Goos Blvds. There will be a roundabout near the intersection of Goos Blvd. and Woodring St. The boulevard section will continue north to a roundabout at Fitzenrider Rd. and Goos Blvd. The roundabout at Fitzenrider will lead into a three-lane roadway that ends at N. Simmons St.

One side of the road will have a sidewalk. The other will have multi-use paths.

Like all city projects, Fontenot said, the extension includes upgrades to drainage, water and sewer systems.

They are currently moving into the preliminary design phase, and are working on right-of-way acquisition. There is no set timeline for the project’s groundbreaking or completion.

“You can get design done in a year, and then next thing you know right-of-way acquisition takes three years,” he explained. “As we advance through the preliminary design and start getting a better understanding of what the right-of-way acquisition looks like and some of the challenges associated with it, we’ll be able to better narrow in on a timeline.”

The last open house is being held at 6 tonight, July 18, at the Martin Luther King Junior Center.