Calcasieu Parish Police Jury cut the ribbon on the Louisiana Avenue Regional Detention Basin Friday.

“This facility is the first of its kind,” said Anthony Bartie, Calcasieu Parish Police Jury president. “It’s going to provide our residents with a sense of peace of mind because there is one thing we want to do whenever we can, and that is try to protect properties and businesses from flooding.”

Set on 18 acres of property on Louisiana Avenue along Contraband Bayou, the basin is 935-feet wide, 885-feet long and 13-feet deep. It can hold up to 60 million gallons of water. That’s like 7.5 football fields with one-foot of water covering each field, according to  he parish.

The pond represents more than improved drainage and safeguarded homes, businesses and infrastructure. It is fenced, lighted and surrounded by benches and a walking path that’s just shy of ¾ mile, and it came in at $3 million under budget, according to Jennifer Hobbs, project engineer. It was budgeted at $5.75 million.

“It was supported by over $4 million of the American Rescue Plan Act funding, which freed up more local tax dollars for other important capital projects,” Hobbs said, commending the meticulous planning and resource management of the Division of Engineering and Public Works, along with the Grants Department for the feat.

Two years ago, the parish broke ground on the project. In addition to ARPA money, it was funded with $1.62 million in capital money.

Mayor Nic Hunter noted that changes in drainage policy have been important, “but the public wants to see results like this,” he said. “I want you to think about this figure collectively as a community. Over the last four years, over a quarter of a billion dollars have been invested into drainage improvements in this community, and again, that’s through partnerships between the police jury, gravity drainage districts and the city of Lake Charles. And, I am very confident in saying that drainage in this city is better, superior to what it was before Hurricane Laura.”

The Louisiana Avenue Regional Detention Basin Project is the first of its kind, but not the last Calcasieu Parish Police Jury flood mitigation effort of this kind.

“Recently we received the green light to design four new regional detention projects through the parish,” said Nick Johnson, parish engineer. “Once construction begins, these projects will represent nearly $50 million in new drainage infrastructure. These projects will be funded using federal dollars, which allows us to allocate our local funds to additional infrastructure improvements.”

The main pedestrian access is from the 5500 block of Louisiana Avenue.