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Peters Road extension: DOTD to advertise consultant selection in coming weeks; RAISE grant administration transferred to DOTD
Summary
DOTD told the committee it will advertise for engineering services for the Peters Road extension in the coming weeks, with selection and a negotiated contract expected ahead of a June notice to proceed; the department will administer a roughly $7.4 million RAISE grant, and the port and parish will participate under a cooperative agreement.
Department of Transportation and Development staff told the joint committee that DOTD will administer a RAISE grant for the Peters Road extension project and that the department will advertise for consultant engineering services in the coming weeks.
Plaquemines Port and DOTD agreed in December to let DOTD administer the discretionary RAISE grant that will fund a redesign and accelerate the project. DOTD said the advertisement for consultant teams will follow a short pre-advertisement period that began in January, and that the formal ad will run for the minimum statutory period (21 days). The department estimated a roughly one-month evaluation period after the ad closes and said it planned to abbreviate the consultant-negotiation window to 30 days (DOTD said the typical maximum negotiation allowance is 90 days) to speed the work.
"Advertisement of the consultant will be in the next couple of weeks," DOTD staff told the committee. DOTD estimated it could issue a notice to proceed to the selected consultant by early June, assuming federal authorizations proceed.
Why it matters: Plaquemines Parish officials told the committee the extension provides a critical second access route for large industrial facilities under construction in the parish and that accelerating design and construction is a local emergency. The port procured an approximately $7.4 million RAISE grant to speed the design; DOTD said it also has about $17 million in state funds available for right-of-way acquisition and related work if federal approvals are delayed.
Plaquemines Port Director Charles Tillotson told the committee the port will seek to participate on the evaluation team and asked that the port and parish be included throughout procurement and selection; DOTD said it will include local stakeholders and that final contract authority will rest with DOTD. The parties said they would exchange a short cooperative-enforcement/administration paragraph (a CEA) to memorialize participation and authority.
Ending: DOTD and Plaquemines Port said they will proceed with the advertisement and evaluation on an expedited timeline. DOTD told the committee it will negotiate the consultant contract and request federal authorization for grant funds; if authorization is delayed, DOTD said it can use state funds to avoid long pauses in design and right-of-way work.
