UPDATED: $16.7M head for MC for infrastructure work, including walk-bike trail

Morgan City will receive grants totaling $16.7 million for a variety of projects in the city, including a major portion of the continuing work on a walking-biking trail.
The word came Wednesday from the office of U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge.
“This project will fund the final design and construction of transportation infrastructure improvements including sidewalks, crosswalks, Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) access, bicycle lanes, street trees, and lighting to four segments within the city,” according to Cassidy in a press release.
The money was authorized under the Infrastructure and Jobs Act, which Cassidy had a hand in negotiating, and the Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity, program, or RAISE.
The work to be funding includes street lighting, drainage work and disability access throughout the city, Mayor Lee Dragna said.
The grants also target a portion of the larger walking-biking trail in Morgan City, a project supported by the philanthropic H&B Young Foundation.
The portion at issue will go from City Hall to Fourth Street, across the railroad tracks to Youngs Road to Young Memorial. Then it goes down Myrtle Street across the tracks again and to La. 182, ending up at Morgan City Municipal Auditorium.
“That gives anybody from any part of town access to safely walk or bike to the college,” Mayor Lee Dragna said.
That’s the educational part. The work will also cover a ditch along Youngs Road that is encroaching on the street, Dragna said.
Dragna said he was surprised that the grants survived the recent budget fight, when an unsuccessful attempt to forge a budget deal resulted in a slimmed-down agreement that eliminated other projects.
The mayor said he’d been in contact with the offices of Cassidy and U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins, R-Lafayette.
Dragna noted that, unlike other grants from the state or federal governments, this funding requires no local match.
The St. Mary Excel citizens group has advocated for the walking trail. A statement from Excel praised the acquisition of the grant.
“St. Mary Excel is so excited about the $16,702,779 RAISE grant awarded to the City of Morgan City,” according to an emailed statement.
“This grant will complete the work started 8 years ago when the H&B Young Foundation paid for the initial BIKE MORGAN CITY plan in order to safely connect students in Morgan City to SOLACC on Youngs Road. St. Mary Excel wrote 5 grants through Recreational Trails and then worked with South Central Planning and the City of Morgan City to get Safe Routes to Public Places grants which would safely connect the downtown area to the community college.
“Former Morgan City grant writer Hannah Roy was able to put the pieces together and identify all remaining segments for a comprehensive city hiking and biking plan with St. Mary Excel’s support. This award will complete the work that began with St. Mary Excel to connect every neighborhood safely to education, community services, and recreation and with the re-opening of the Atchafalaya River Bridge to neighboring communities as well.”
Cassidy said the grants can play a role in Morgan City’s future.
“This was the promise we made with the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act,” the senator said in his press release. “We are investing in big and small communities to rebuild our physical infrastructure and improve the quality of life."
“Investments like this help Louisiana build an economy for 2050.”