Louisiana road damage alone > 2.3 billion

Ouch.

NOLA.com: Times-Picayune Breaking News Weblog: ”

Road damages estimated at $2.3 billion
Friday, 8:20 p.m.

By Ed Anderson
Capital bureau

BATON ROUGE – The cost to replace or repair federal, state and local highways and bridges destroyed or damaged by Hurricane Katrina will be about $2.3 billion “and that number will grow’’ Department of Transportation and Development spokesman Mark Lambert said Friday.

Lambert said that about $1.5 billion in damage was done to Interstate highways, major state roads such as Louisiana in Belle Chasse and the I-10 Twin Span linking eastern New Orleans to Slidell.

Repairs to those roads and spans are eligible for funding from the Federal Highway Administration, Lambert said.

Another $775 million in damages was done to parts of the 9,000 mile of so-called “off-system roads’’ in the hurricane’s strike area, roads that are controlled by local government and are not repaired or maintained with federal dollars. Lambert said federal money from the Federal Emergency Management Agency will be available to help repair replace sections of those highways and bridges.

“That ($2.3 billion) figure is very preliminary,’’ Lambert said. For example, the numbers do not include $35 million to replace or repair traffic signals or traffic signs, especially in the flooded New Orleans area.

Lambert said the entire New Orleans traffic light system may have to be replaced because much of it was under water for days.

The $2.3 billion also does not include damages to state ports, airports, levees or mass transit systems, or possibly help to relieve traffic-choked Baton Rouge streets that are filled with vehicles of New Orleans area evacuees.
“

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