Gulf State DOTs Pare Post-Katrina Highway Repair Estimates
As they continue to seek federal funds to help rebuild infrastructure battered by Hurricane Katrina, Gulf Coast states have revised their needs estimates downward, but the new figures are still substantial. Top officials from the Louisiana and Mississippi transportation agencies now estimate that it will take $1.8 billion to reconstruct highway and bridges eligible for Federal Highway Administration emergency relief funds. That's down from a mid-September estimate of $2.4 billion.
Louisiana is asking Congress for $1.1 billion in FHWA emergency relief aid, says Johnny B. Bradberry, secretary of the state's Dept. of Transportation and Development. Of that, he says, about $600 million would be for rebuilding the "Twin Span" Interstate-10 crossing of Lake Pontchartrain, from Slidell to New Orleans.