$25M in federal money awarded to Louisiana for I-12 work

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Louisiana is receiving $25 million in federal transportation money to make improvements on Interstate 12 near the site of a four-person fatality earlier this year.

U.S. Sens. Bill Cassidy and John Kennedy announced the financing Thursday.

The Advocate reports that the money will pay for interstate upgrades in St. Tammany Parish, to eliminate bottlenecks. The dollars will be combined with $7.2 million from the parish and $3.8 million from the state.

Four people were killed, and others injured, in May 26 crashes involving 18-wheelers on I-12 in Covington.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao notified the senators of the interstate financing, along with a $16 million federal grant to upgrade a major highway near Port Fourchon.