By ROBIN SHANNON

L’Observateur

LAPLACE — The first of several infrastructure improvement projects tied to the $29.5 million bond issue, which St. John Parish voters passed in April, garnered the approval of St. John council members at last week’s meeting.

The council unanimously voted to approve authorization of a contract between the parish and Buchart Horn Inc. of Baton Rouge to begin design work on three intersections along Airline Highway in LaPlace.

The parish has set aside $2 million of the bond issue for improvement projects along the busy thoroughfare, which runs through the east bank of the parish. Parish President Bill Hubbard said the improvements, which include additional lanes, are expected to relieve traffic constraints.

St. John Public Information Officer Buddy Boe said the changes to the intersections are recommendations that came out of a 2008 planning and feasibility study on US 61 between Magnolia Street and Old US 51/Main Street conducted by Buchart Horn and paid for by the Regional Planning Commission. He said the company would be paid $417,898 for the design work, which is broken down into three task orders.

The contract stipulates that the company will be paid $206,756 for designing changes to the Belle Terre Boulevard intersection, 126,209 for the U.S. 51/Main Street corridor and $84,933 for design work at the Hemlock Street intersection. Boe said the design work should take about seven months to complete.

An overview of the entire project, including diagrams of the intersection improvements, can be found at the parish website at www.sjbparish.com/bondissue.asp.

The council also voted to allow the parish to move forward on an expansion project at the Lyons water treatment plant in Reserve. Boe said the treatment plant has operated without any improvements since 1997 and is long overdue for an upgrade.

The council unanimously approved a contract change with C.J. Savoie Engineers for design work at the plant. Plans include expanding the plant so that it can treat 5 million gallons of water per day instead of its current 3 million gallons.

The contract for improvements was originally approved in August and was set up to satisfy the demands of a new sugar refinery that was supposed to be built in the Reserve area near the treatment plant. That project has since moved to St. James Parish.

Boe said the improvements are still necessary since the treatment plant operates at near 98 percent capacity on a daily basis. He said the expansion would take care of St. John’s East Bank quantity issues for the next 15 to 20 years.

Boe said the parish will allocate $4.1 million from the bond money to upgrade the treatment plant.