BATON ROUGE (CNS)—St. Martin Parish was approved for 14 Priority 1 construction projects for the coming year totaling almost $18.65 million, according information contained in HB-2.

St. Martin was also approved for $250,000 for one project included in Priority 2, or second year, budgeting, and one project for $4.55 million in Priority 5 appropriations. St. Martin was also included in four multi-parish projects approved for a Priority 1 appropriations of almost $45.9 million.

HB-2, the 2010 capital outlay bill, was passed during the regular legislative session just ended. Containing some 850 construction projects totaling $4.5 billion, the bill was signed into law by Gov. Bobby Jindal. Jindal vetoed only eight projects totaling $20.1 million.

Projects included in first-year appropriations in the 2010 construction bill for St. Martin Parish include:

•$3.06 million for I-10 Frontage Road (La. 328 to LA. 347);

•$3.4 million for courthouse expansion and renovations;

•$456,841 for the Catahoula Meeting Center;

•$220,000 for the Coteau Holmes Civic Center;

•$100,000 for T-Bayou drainage improvements;

•$45,000 for a senior citizen activity building for the parish Council on Aging;

•$25,000 for water tower to service I-10 and Rees Street area in Breaux Bridge;

•$150,000 for planning a municipal complex for Parks;

•$100,000 for improvements to the sewer lift station in St. Martinville;

•$900,000 for an upgrade to the wastewater treatment plant and wastewater pre-treatment system in St. Martinville;

•$45,000 for water system improvements for the Cecilia Water Corporation;

•$7.15 million for the Youngsville Parkway;

•$2,500,000 for improvements to the Coteau water system;

The Priority 2 appropriation was for $250,000 for planning and construction of the Longfellow Evangeline State Historic Site RV campground and the Priority 5 appropriation of $4.55 million for the I-10 Frontage Road project between LA. 328 and LA. 347.

In multi-parish projects, $24.255 million was appropriated in state funding for the ambitious Flood Control Feasibility Study, planning, right of way and construction levees, floodgates and other flood control systems from Morganza to the Gulf of Mexico.

A project of the Office of Coastal Protection and Restoration, additional funding sources include $442 million in federal matching funds, $100,000 in local matching funds, and $25 million in a local in-kind match.

Included in the flood control study are the parishes of St. Martin, Ascension, Assumption, Iberia, Iberville, Lafourche, Pointe Coupee, St. Mary, Terrebonne, and West Baton Rouge.

Other Priority 1 multi-parish projects included:

•$7.3 million for completion of I-49 from I-220 in the City of Shreveport to the Arkansas line and from Lafayette to the Westbank Expressway in Jefferson Parish. An additional $15 million would be payable from the state’s Unclaimed Property Leverage Fund. Parishes besides St. Martin, Caddo, Lafayette, and Jefferson would be Iberia, Lafourche, St. Mary, St. Charles, and Terrebonne.

•$10.48 million for the Department of Natural Resources for the Atchafalaya Basin Protection and Enhancement.

This project would also include an additional $3 million in Priority 2 funding and would includes the parishes of St. Martin, St. Mary, Point Coupee, St. Landry, Assumption, Avoyelles, Iberia, and Iberville.

•$4,348,315 for infrastructure improvements for industrial development for the parishes of St. Martin and Lafayette.

The Capital Outlay Bill is in addition to HB-76 that contained $33 million in pet projects that legislators funded by depleting the so-called rainy day fund normally reserved for state emergencies and catastrophes such as hurricanes. Jindal vetoed less than $2 million from HB-76.