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Gonzales & Ascension Parish


dan326

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RPCC plans to spend $2 million for new campus site

River Parishes Community College has signed a $2 million purchase agreement for a 43-acre tract of land at the Interstate 10 Gonzales/Burnside exit. The school plans to build a new campus on the site with a scheduled April 2014 opening. The new campus is five miles away from RPCC's current main and Technical Education Center (TEC) campuses in Sorrento. The new campus will house all of RPCC's general education classes, as well as some of the technical classes. Joe Ben Welch, RPCC chancellor, says the new campus is a sign of the school's growth. "Our enrollment has been growing by double-digit percentages, and with the addition of the technical campus last year, so have our programs," Welch says. The new campus will cost $19 million to build. The final purchase is contingent on Edenborne Development Company's installation of necessary infrastructure. Plans have been in the works for several years to build a TND at the Gonzales/Burnside exit.

Businessreport.com

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Ascension terminal project gets bond approval

The Louisiana State Bond Commission has approved more than $306 million in bonds for projects across the state and says it has saved $1.5 million in taxpayer money for local governments by refinancing existing debts at lower interest rates. Among the projects approved by the commission is $70 million in GO Zone bonds for the Impala Warehousing project in Ascension Parish. In August, Trafigura, through its subsidiary Impala Warehousing, announced the acquisition of the Ormet's Burnside terminal for $28 million. Trafigura plans to invest around $100 million to reopen the currently idled Burnside facility as a state-of-the-art major bulk terminal for coal, bauxite and alumina. The Burnside facility was originally constructed in 1956 alongside an alumina refinery, but it was closed in January 2008. Trafigura will be examining a variety of options for the engineering works and investment needed to refurbish and expand the facility. The Louisiana State Bond Commission meets monthly to review and approve applications from parishes, municipalities, special taxing districts and other political subdivisions to incur debt.

Businessreport.com

Edited by steve3n8
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Williams Companies plans $400 million expansion of Geismar plant

An ethylene production facility in Geismar will receive an expansion costing up to $400 million, Williams Companies announced this morning. The Tulsa-based natural gas company says the expansion will increase production capacity by 44%, to 1.95 billion pounds per year. It's expected to be fully functioning in the third quarter of 2013. Williams is the operator and majority owner of the plant, which also produces propylene, butadiene and debutanized aromatic concentrate.

Businessreport.com

Edited by steve3n8
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Roundabout work set to begin

GONZALES — State highway officials plan to start construction on the first state-funded roundabout in the Baton Rouge area early next spring, officials said this week.

The $1.24 million roundabout in northeastern Ascension Parish will be built at La. 431 and La. 42 near the Amite River Bridge, state highway officials said.

Dustin Annison, spokesman for the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, said the project is designed to improve traffic flow and safety of the “T” intersection.

The La. 431/42 intersection is a heavily traveled area for commuters who live in the Florida Parishes and work along the Mississippi River.

In 2010, average daily traffic heading from the west and south into the La. 42/431 intersection totaled 18,120 vehicles, with the load closely split between La. 42 and La. 431, the DOTD website says.

Both are two-lane highways and meet at a three-way stop intersection.

Roundabouts are one-way, circular intersections that look and work generally like traffic circles, but they are said to be better designed for safety. In an email, Annison cited Federal Highway Administration data saying roundabouts reduce fatalities by up to 90 percent.

Drivers enter and exit roundabouts through a series of right-hand turns. Left turns are eliminated. Traffic generally does not stop through a roundabout but slows down.

“Greater safety is achieved primarily by having slower speeds and the elimination of more severe crashes, and operation is improved by smooth-flowing traffic with less stop-and-go than a signalized intersection,” Annison said in the email.

Port Vincent Police Chief Norris Hull said traffic is “just horrible” in the morning and afternoons on La. 42 through Port Vincent, which is on the Livingston Parish side of the Amite River Bridge.

He said drivers are coming through the area from as far away as St. Tammany Parish to go to work along the Mississippi. Hull said he does not know how much the roundabout will help but is hoping it will reduce traffic in Port Vincent.

“I’m all for something that might do it to some degree. I guess in that situation, something is better than nothing,” Hull said.

The roundabout is being paid for with 2009 surplus dollars and was let for construction on Nov. 16, Annison said.

Two other roundabouts are being planned by Ascension Parish government. One in the Gonzales area is still under study. The other in Prairieville has been designed but is stalled in a dispute over an underground pipeline, according to report this week to the Parish Council Transportation Committee.

According to DOTD online bid records, the apparent low bidder for the La. 431/42 roundabout is Command Construction Industries LLC of Metairie with an offer of $1.24 million.

The offer is slightly above the construction estimate of $1.196 million but beat bids from five other companies.

Annison said it typically takes 90 days from letting before DOTD clears the contractor to start work, putting the start in early spring, or roughly mid-February.

Work is expected to take about seven months, he said.

DOTD has also built roundabouts in recent years is Lafayette, the New Orleans area and Leesville, he said.

http://theadvocate.com/news/1569801-123/roundabout-work-set-to-begin.html

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I'm not sure if this was posted already, but I saw calls for a movie theatre in Gonzales. The article below suggests one may be in the works for Airline at 44:

"Also during the meeting, Council members agreed to accept a recent economic incentive package by the Ascension Economic Development Corporation, with the hopes of enticing an entertainment venue on the corner of Hwy. 44 and Airline Hwy.

The venue would include a cinema, bowling alley, laser tag site and an arcade.

Included in the package is a tax rebate on tenant-made improvements, a restoration tax rebate program and a two-cent sales tax.

The rebate program would excuse five years of property tax for improvements made to the property.

The cost to the city would be upwards of $40,000."

http://www.weeklycitizen.com/newsnow/x782949231/Gonzales-officially-Cream-of-the-Crop

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I'm not sure if this was posted already, but I saw calls for a movie theatre in Gonzales. The article below suggests one may be in the works for Airline at 44:

"Also during the meeting, Council members agreed to accept a recent economic incentive package by the Ascension Economic Development Corporation, with the hopes of enticing an entertainment venue on the corner of Hwy. 44 and Airline Hwy.

The venue would include a cinema, bowling alley, laser tag site and an arcade.

Included in the package is a tax rebate on tenant-made improvements, a restoration tax rebate program and a two-cent sales tax.

The rebate program would excuse five years of property tax for improvements made to the property.

The cost to the city would be upwards of $40,000."

http://www.weeklycit...eam-of-the-Crop

Welcome to the forum and good post.

I'm very curious as to where it would be built. Behind the old Pizza Hut building or the old Albertsons lot. There's no other room at that intersection. Maybe this will be the catalyst for that intersection, many of the businesses need to be rebuilt. I would have definitely thought it would be on the Tanger side of I-10 and Hwy 30. Probably near Cabela's.

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Thanks, Antrell! Dan is correct it is going in the vacant shopping center behind the old Pizza Hut (I think there will soon be a Chinese restaurant in the Pizza Hut). The movie theatre/ bowling alley/ laser tag/ arcade group is rumored to be Malco. They are a national group. Close by, they operate 2 bowling alley/ arcades in Lafayette - named Acadiana Lanes and Lafayette Lanes.

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