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Jurors approve updated MPO agreement after planning commission outlines $5 million roundabout and funding gap
Summary
The Acadia Parish Police Jury approved an updated intergovernmental agreement with the Acadiana Planning Commission (MPO) after Sarah Gary described a planned $5 million roundabout project with a roughly $3 million local funding shortfall and two documented fatalities at the location used to justify safety funding.
The Acadia Parish Police Jury on Jan. 13 voted to adopt an updated intergovernmental agreement with the Acadiana Planning Commission after a presentation from Sarah Gary, transportation director and CEO of the commission.
Gary told jurors the parish is part of the MPO (Metropolitan Planning Organization) and that decennial census-based boundary changes required all member entities to re-sign an agreement. She described a local project — a roundabout at Dusan/Lexington/Highway 95 — currently in design with a total estimated cost of about $5 million and said the parish faces an approximate $3 million shortfall. "We were able to finagle, I think, $2,000,000 of that money, which is safety funding," she said, adding the remaining funds would follow the program’s usual 80% federal, 20% local match rules.
Gary said the federal safety funds were available in part because there had been two fatalities at the site in question; she presented handouts and offered to provide more detailed project materials to parish staff.
Jurors voted to approve the planning commission’s agreement and to accept the project materials and funding discussions; the motion carried on a voice vote.
What’s next: Parish staff will receive project handouts and continue to coordinate with the Acadiana Planning Commission and state partners to identify funding to cover the local match.
