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DOTD says East Baton Rouge owes state nearly $1M for damage caused by city worker
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BATON ROUGE - The state has submitted a claim to the East Baton Rouge Metro Council seeking nearly $1 million to recoup the cost of damage to a state highway that was caused by a city-parish worker.
The $990,428 settlement claim will be introduced next week, with a full council discussion set for Aug. 9.
While the Metro Council agenda doesn't provide further details on what the money is for, the state has previously said it expected to seek at least half a million dollars from the parish to pay for repairs to the Airline Highway overpass at Florida Boulevard.
After a work truck hit the bridge in May 2022, the overpass stayed closed for roughly a year while DOTD made repairs.
The city-parish would later admit that an employee with the Department of Public Works failed to properly secure a large piece of equipment, causing it to strike the bridge.
“Our maintenance people were hauling a track hoe and had the boom up a little too high. And as they were moving to the east lot to put the track hoe at, it hit the upper portion of the approach area at Airline Highway and Florida and it created a real problem with the girders," Fred Raiford with the Department of Drainage and Transportation told WBRZ last year.
A city-parish spokesperson said the driver blamed for the wreck was made to take additional safety classes after the crash.
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