Gov. Edwards announces $50M plan to restore LSU lakes

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - If you’ve driven past the City Park Lakes on LSU’s campus, you’ve probably noticed a layer of algae floating on top.

That will soon change, as Governor John Bel Edwards, along with the Baton Rouge Area Foundation (BRAF), announced a plan to fund major improvements to the LSU Lakes, including the City Park Lake.

The first stage of this project will include dredging the lakes, which will deepen them by several feet. This will allow the lakes to hold more water and avoid turning into mudflats.

"That dredging makes for a healthy body of water, removes that green algae that we see out there now,” said BREC Superintendent Corey Wilson.

Currently, the lake in City Park is covered with algae. BREC has taken measures to eliminate the algae, but has said it’s just a temporary fix and the lakes need to be dredged.

Once dredging is completed, the LSU and City Lakes will be connected. A bridge on May Street will cross over the lakes. It will also add biking and walking paths around the lakes, along with the potential for other recreational additions.

"When the project is complete, this will be a special place that I think all Louisianans will be able to be proud of,” Edwards said.

The project comes with a $50 million price tag. Gov. Edwards said Wednesday, Nov. 13 that it will be covered by a coalition of state and local resources.

"There will be a place holder in the capital outlay bill and as much as that needs to be borne by capital outlay will be, but the majority of the costs will be borne by the various partners, LSU, and the LSU Athletic Foundation, for example, BREC, and the City of Baton Rouge,” Edwards said.

Work will not begin on the dredging of the lakes until the end of 2020. That will likely take up to two years to complete. Mike Spain with BRAF says the entire project will take up to four years to be completed.

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