Parish President Archie Chaisson, shortly after taking office in 2020, began working with then Representative Reggie Bagala on a plan to move forward with rebuilding the Valentine Bridge. Representative Bagala had secured a $1million commitment from DOTD to begin the work. The Parish then contracted GIS Engineering to develop a scope of work and cost to complete the project. Parish President Chaisson and the Lafourche Parish Council worked together to bond out the additional money needed through the parish Road Districts for the project. “This project was always on the forefront for us and remained a priority,” said President Chaisson. Additionally, and with help from the federal delegation, the Parish was able to secure $2.6million through the IIJA bill to go to this project. U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-La) shared his thoughts of the announcement saying that, “Our transportation infrastructure has suffered from neglect and lack of funding for decades. Louisiana is seeing the benefits of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.”
“We want to sincerely thank our Congressional delegation, Senators Cassidy and Kennedy and Congressmen Scalise and Graves, for their hard work in getting us this funding and for all their support in our Parish recovery,” said President Chaisson.
