Plans to break ground on the Livingston Parish airport project have been delayed several months.
Delia Taylor, chair of the Livingston Parish Airport District, told Daily Report in March that the airport’s groundbreaking was tentatively scheduled for April.
The timeline was pushed back for multiple reasons. Taylor says that once the process of clearing and grubbing the land is complete, she will have a better idea of when a groundbreaking might take place. She says Rigid Constructors out of Lafayette is the contractor clearing the land and it hopes to begin work next week.
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The approval process at the parish and state level contributed to the delay.
“We got everything approved by the parish in April and May, but there was something else we needed to get approved and that took a little bit longer just to get through the process,” Taylor says.
The current plan for the airport calls for a phased approach. Phase one includes a 4,200-foot runway. Taylor says the final product will have a 5,000-foot runway with a larger apron and a full parallel taxiway. Engineering firm Alvin Fairburn & Associates in Denham Springs is handling the project.
As of Tuesday, the district has invested $13 million in the project, according to Taylor.
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Livingston Parish officials secured 242 acres near the Satsuma exit off Interstate 12 in 2017 for the airport.
“I’m hoping to know in the next few weeks when we can plan the groundbreaking and just keep moving forward,” Taylor says. “After that, we’re going to start trying to construct the runway.”
This story originally appeared in a July 31 issue of Daily Report. To keep up with Baton Rouge business and politics, subscribe to the free Daily Report e-newsletter here.