Funding will help pave bike path to Jefferson Parish

Michelle Stuckey

The St. Charles Parish Council approved funding to extend the paved paths on both the East Bank and West Bank levees. The funding will take the West Bank path from the diversion to the Jefferson Parish line and the East Bank path from Apple Street in Norc

The St. Charles Parish Council has approved more than $1 million in grants that will fund the construction of four miles of paved paths on top of the Mississippi River levees.

That funding will take the West Bank path from the Davis Pond Diversion to the Jefferson Parish line in Ama and will extend the East Bank path from Apple Street in Norco to the Bonnet Carre Spillway’s east guide levee.

The grants were awarded by the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development. The parish received $231,700 for the East Bank path and $881,700 for the West Bank path.

Grants Officer Holly Fonseca said that the East Bank portion of the path has a final plan in place and that the Department of Transportation will now have to advertise for bids. The West Bank plan has been approved to be finalized.
The parish will continue to seek grant funding for the remaining sections that include an extension from Elm Street to Killona on the West Bank and from the spillway through Montz on the East Bank.

The paths can be utilized by both cyclists and pedestrians.
Work was recently completed on a paved path on the West Bank from Elm Street in Hahnville to Davis Drive in Luling. That project costs a little over $1.3 million.