L’Observateur

LAPLACE – St. John Parish officials learned Tuesday the parish will be receiving more than $1.1 million in federal money for repairs to two heavily damaged streets in Reserve and Garyville.

During Tuesday’s Parish Council meeting, Parish President Bill Hubbard said the parish will be receiving two Community Development Block Grants to fund improvements to Northwest Second Street in Reserve and Historic East Street in Garyville. Hubbard said the two streets were chosen from a list of more than a dozen streets submitted to the grant program. St. John Public Information Officer Buddy Boe said the two streets were selected based on the specific parameters necessary for CDBG funding. He said both streets are situated in an area of low to moderate income, and both were determined to be in the worse condition than any of the other streets submitted for funding.

Boe said the repairs include a complete resurfacing of the asphalt on the entire stretch of both streets. He said a $564,000 grant would be used for Historic East Street, and a $548,000 grant would be used for Northwest Second Street. The grant funds are part of the federal government’s 2009 stimulus package.

Boe said once the grants have been secured, the projects will undergo an environmental review before work can be done.

He said the parish anticipates the review won’t be complete until late December. The parish will then have to advertise for bids to do the work on the two thoroughfares.

“We probably won’t see any movement on this until sometime after the first of the year,” Boe said.