Posted on August 18, 2020
LSU is announcing today that work will begin in September on the project to rehabilitate and enhance the six-lake system surrounding the LSU campus known as the University Lakes.
Despite widespread economic uncertainty due to the pandemic, the University Lakes project, which could ultimately cost as much as $50 million over several years, is able to move forward because some $15 million has been secured from several sources.
That money will enable design work to be completed on all six lakes—City Park, Erie, College, Campus, University, and Crest—and should also cover much of the cost of actually dredging City Park, Erie, College and Campus lakes.
The $15 million will also cover several of the planned enhancements around City Park Lake, including new sidewalks and bike trails.
Perhaps as much as $20 million more will be needed to tackle University Lake, the largest and most utilized in the system, and Crest Lake, which is across Dalrymple Drive from University Lake.
The $15 million for the initial phase of work is coming from three sources: $5 million from BREC, which manages the City Park Lake; $5 million in MovEBR funds, which will be used for the enhancements; and $5 million in federal Community Development Block Grant funds, which will go toward dredging.
The CDBG money must be spent on drainage and flood-related projects. Dredging the lakes is expected to improve their capacity to serve as a natural drainage basin for the area.
Today’s announcement comes from the LSU Real Estate and Facilities Foundation, which is overseeing the project, nearly one year after a high-profile announcement at the state Capitol that a coalition of state, local and university officials was formed to restore the lakes. Partners include the state, city, BREC, LSU and the Baton Rouge Area Foundation, the latter of which originally conceived the project several years ago.
In January, LSU REFF selected a joint venture of national consulting firm Brailsford & Dunlavey and local engineering firm CSRS as the project adviser and preliminary design work began. But progress was suspended in the spring, due to the pandemic. During the hiatus, funding commitments were secured and details of the complex agreements were finalized.
“While the University Lakes project temporarily took a back seat to our joint work on protecting the community’s health, the state of Louisiana is fully committed to seeing this worthwhile project come to fruition,” Gov. John Bel Edwards says in a prepared statement.
Design work is expected to take several months. Upon completion of the design phase, dredging is scheduled to begin in fall 2021.
Source: businessreport
