WALKER — The state transportation department opens bids this week for replacement of some of the controversial Interstate 12 barriers in Livingston and East Baton Rouge parishes, Walker City Council members learned Monday, which means that the project is closer to becoming visible.
“A lot of times you don’t see, but things have been moving, and you might start seeing some actual activity out on the interstate once these bids come in and that process gets resolved,” City Attorney Bobby King said at Monday’s council meeting.
The replacement is the result of a class-action lawsuit filed by the cities of Walker and Denham Springs, along with some residents, that showed how those concrete interstate barriers acted as dams in the catastrophic 2016 flood. The barriers stopped the flow of water across the interstate, forcing the water back into areas that were already inundated.
The state Department of Transportation and Development estimates that the work will cost between $15-20 million and is scheduled to take 475 days to complete, King said…