BATON ROUGE – The Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development (DOTD) hosted a ground breaking ceremony on Thursday, April 7, marking the start of the I-49 clearing and grubbing project in Caddo Parish.  State Senator Lydia Jackson served as Master of Ceremonies for the event, which took place north of Mira at the intersection of Parish Road 16 and Parish Road 25.

            This is the first project on the I-49 North corridor that will eventually extend I-49 from I-220 in Shreveport to the Arkansas state line. 

This project consists of clearing and grubbing approximately 230 acres between Mira-Myrtis Road and LA 168.  The contractor for the $576,880 project, Specialty Contractors, has 75 working days to complete the project.

            In addition to Jackson, remarks were given by Richard H. Wright, representing Congressman Jim McCrery; State Representative Hoppy Hopkins; State Rep. Billy Montgomery; State Rep. Cedric Glover; Johnny Bradberry, DOTD Secretary; Tommy Clark, Chairman of the I-49 Task Force; and Al Kessler, Chairman of the I-49 Coalition. Reverend Larry P. Allen of the Hosston Baptist Church provided the Invocation and Reverend David Melville, Assoc. Pastor of the Noel United Methodist Church, gave the Benediction. The North Caddo Jr. ROTC Color Guard conducted the Presentation of the Colors.

              The DOTD Project Engineer is Greg Wall.