KSLA News 12 Shreveport, Louisiana |Congressman Fleming soars over North Caddo to eye 49

Congressman Fleming soars over North Caddo to eye 49

By Fred Childers - bio | email

SHREVEPORT, LA (KSLA) - It's a work in progress. Interstate 49 through Shreveport has plodded along for decades. "This is a project that I have literally worked on since day one," said U.S. Congressman Jim McCrery after a ground breaking ceremony that took place just before he left office.
    And where Congressman McCrery leaves off his successor, Congressman John Fleming wants to take the ball and run. "And really we're getting really close to being able to go all the way from the border of Arkansas down to Shreveport," says Congressman Fleming. That's where the focus is, since the work is divided up into sections, Congressman Fleming wants a bird's eye view, and he got one aboard a Blackhawk Helicopter provided by the National Guard. 
    "I think it gives you a more real time understanding of the spatial relationships between the dirt work going on right now, what's going on in the future and what the distance is from Shreveport," says Congressman Fleming. I-49 is set to get 42 million dollars from the stimulus bill. "A bill Fleming voted against, but he says 49 funding is crucial to opening Louisiana up to commerce and industry. "So we would be working for those dollars anyway, it's the other stuff in the stimulus package that I'm concerned about, 1.2 million for Amtrak, 30 million for a protection of mice in San Francisco," says Congressman Fleming. Projects he believes pale in comparison to 49, especially when you step back and really look at it, from several hundred feet in the air.
    Fleming would like to see the funding concentrate on the north end, from the Arkansas border to Shreveport, he says the state will get more for it's money if the project progresses north to south.