Many roads in the greater New Orleans metro area that were damaged by Hurricane Katrina will finally begin to see work starting today. A ground-breaking ceremony for the "South Louisiana Submerged Roads Program" is being hosted by Louisiana's Department of Transportation.

The first three projects, to start today, are Crowder Boulevard and Dwyer Road in New Orleans, Whitney Avenue in Algiers from Mardi Gras Boulevard to Patterson Drive, and Marconi Drive from North Southern Railroad to Robert E. Lee Boulevard. "They're very good representatives of our criteria for selection," says DOTD Secretary Bill Ankner.

Listen to Ankner:

Listen:

   

The program will repair and resurface millions of dollars of roads in the metropolitan area. 52 projects have been identified in Orleans, Jefferson, Plaquemines, St. Bernard and St. Tammany parishes.

Ankner says this first phase of the program is anticipated to cost $100 to $125 million, and should be completed in no more than six years. Ankner says the goal is to have all of them started in the next three years.

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