Infrastructure Meeting

Projects totaling in the hundreds of millions of dollars that will impact future development in one of the fastest growing areas of the state were outlined Tuesday during a Bossier infrastructure planning meeting attended by representatives of public and governmental agencies.

In Bossier City alone, more than $106 million in ongoing design and construction projects are on the books, with another $98 million currently under construction, City Engineer Ben Rauschenbach told the crowd.

Bossier Parish Engineer Eric Hudson said parish projects include the north/south corridor phase 2 (Swan Lake Rd. to Crouch Rd.), a potential east/west corridor and construction on several parish asphalt roads using funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Reports on active and future projects came from representatives of Bossier Parish, Bossier City, the Bossier Parish School Board, the towns of Benton and Haughton, the North Louisiana Council on Government and the state Department of Transportation and Development.

Also reporting were AEP SWEPCO, CenterPoint Energy, the Caddo-Bossier Port Commission, AT&T, Bossier Parish's Consolidated Waterworks/Sewerage District No. 1 and the Bossier Parish Police Jury's Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Unit. And, a parish-wide broadband connectivity study was presented.

Agencies emphasized the need to identify areas of anticipated growth and the importance of continuing cooperative efforts to proceed with projects designed to accommodate that growth.