(The Center Square) − Seven years after Baton Rouge launched its billion-dollar MoveBR transportation program, the city-parish is preparing to spend another $32.5 million on the private firms managing the work even as many of the program’s largest road projects remain years from completion.
The Metro Council is scheduled Wednesday to consider two-year extensions for the firms that have managed MoveBR since its early years: up to $19.9 million for Stantec Consulting Services and $12.5 million for Westwood Professional Services, formerly CSRS. Stantec oversees community enhancements, improvements to existing corridors and traffic-management projects, while Westwood manages the larger road-capacity projects.
MoveBR began collecting a voter-approved half-cent sales tax in April 2019. The tax runs for 30 years and is expected to finance more than $1 billion in road expansions, sidewalks, traffic signals and other transportation improvements…