KATC reports on Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) Secretary Shawn Wilson’s assessment of the infrastructure damage he’s seen on his rounds of the state following Hurricane Ida. He remarked that one of the worst impacts was “LA-1 at ground level, you can see straight through the burrito levee out to the Gulf of Mexico at eye level.” Dr. Wilson called Ida a wake-up call from which his state and the entire country should take lessons. “The issue is are we going to do something about [infrastructure resilience] or are we going to just consider ourselves lucky and live to fight again another year from now. I don’t think that’s the right thing. When you know better, you do better.”
The Federal Highway Administration this week made $5 million in “quick release” Emergency Relief Program funds available to DOTD to help fund repairs to federal-aid highways and bridges damaged by Ida. FHWA stated that the money will pay for stabilizing impacted roadway embankments, repairing and rebuilding damaged facilities, bridge scour work, and sign replacement.