For the second year, Louisiana ranks No. 2 among U.S. states for infrastructure investment that supports economic growth, according to Site Selection magazine.
For Site Selection’s Global Groundwork Index, first published in 2018, states are evaluated for significant investment in corporate facilities concurrent with investment in roads, bridges, airports, pipelines, railroads and more. Louisiana ranked behind only Texas among U.S. states.
Louisiana’s transportation infrastructure has seen significant investments through recent initiatives, including the MovEBR plan in Baton Rouge, which will use a 30-year, half-cent sales tax to pay for road improvements across the parish. In August, Gov. John Bel Edwards announced the commitment of $85 million in 2020 capital outlay funds for beginning the replacement of the I-10 Calcasieu River Bridge in Lake Charles, and this week the DOTD will break ground on a $125.6 million project that will create enhanced I-10 access to the new $1 billion terminal at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport.
The Global Groundwork Index also features an infrastructure measure not directly tied to economic development projects. In that ranking, New York and California took the top spots, with Louisiana ranking No. 3. Louisiana continues to pursue strategic infrastructure investments, including the $50 billion Coastal Master Plan to protect and restore the state’s coast.
To create the Global Groundwork Index, Site Selection partnered with CG/LA Infrastructure Inc., a Washington, D.C.-based consulting firm specializing in global infrastructure investment for economic development. See the report from Site Selection.
CG/LA Infrastructure ranks several Louisiana projects among the 2019 Top 100 Strategic Projects in North America. They include the dredging of the Calcasieu Ship Channel, No. 15; the estimated $15.2 billion Driftwood LNG project planned by Tellurian Inc., south of Lake Charles, No. 17; Louisiana’s ongoing $50 billion Coastal Master Plan led by the Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, No. 19; the $9.4 billion FG LA ethylene complex proposed by Formosa Petrochemical in St. James Parish, No. 27; and the I-10 Calcasieu River Bridge project in Lake Charles, No. 94.
