LSU Lakes Renovation to Begin July 2023

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Pass by the University Lakes this week, and you’ll spot clues that Phase 1 of its long-awaited improvement project is about to begin. Many years in the making, the project received the final greenlight from the Army Corps of Engineers on June 6 and will start in earnest in early July, officials say.

Intended to improve the University Lakes system, the project includes dredging and deepening the lakes to amend their flow and water quality, and adding pedestrian paths and other enhancements to improve the user experience.

This week, residents will see contractors start staging equipment in May Street Park for Phase 1, which includes dredging City Park Lake and the small lake on its northeast side, Lake Erie. Expect to spot equipment in the water after July 4, says Mark Goodson, principal with project lead CSRS.

New York-based Sevenson Environmental is performing the dredging, which starts with cleaning up the lake bottom first, Goodson says.

“Specifically, they’ll start with what we call ‘raking’ the lakes, identifying and removing stumps and debris before they come in and dredge,” Goodson says.

Phase 1 also includes connecting the system’s two largest lakes, City Park Lake and University Lake, and making improvements to May Street, which runs between them and will be replaced by a new bridge.

“It includes realigning May Street, and improving the intersections at either end, both at Dalrymple and East Lakeshore to make them safer for vehicles and pedestrians and cyclists,” Goodson says. “It includes new pathways and lighting on either side for pedestrians and cyclists, and it will include a new hydraulic connection between University Lake and City Park Lake.”

Wildlife and recreational users will be able to pass back and forth between both lakes.

The May Street bridge and improvements are still under design. Its construction won’t start until closer to the end of the year, Goodson says.

Another component of Phase 1 includes the installation of a forebay, a hydraulic system for trapping sediment, at the north end of City Park Lake.

“The forebay will trap the sediment that enters the lakes system from Bayou Duplantier before it gets dispersed across the lakes,” Goodson says. “(Sediment buildup) is the main reason that the lakes have become so shallow.”

University Lake will be dredged and improved in Phase 2.

The Phase 1 dredging will increase the depth of the lakes to about 6 feet in most places, and 9 feet near the forebay, Goodson says. Along with sediment buildup, the lakes’ current shallow depth is due to their original identity as a swamp whose Cypress trees were cut down in the 1930s as part of a WPA project.

Baton Rouge has been discussing dredging the lakes to deepen and improve them for decades, but the project has been seen as expensive and complicated due in part to the many remaining stumps and large amount of debris on the lake bottom.

Phase 1 is budgeted at $32 million.

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